| Strength and Beauty |
Chapter 4 |
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But this is a wrong interpretation of the prayer. No doubt there are times when there must be a struggle between our will and God’s, and when it costs much for us to yield. But this is not the exclusive nor even the ordinary meaning of the petition. Primarily, it is a prayer, not for the suffering, but for the active doing of the will of God. This is plainly the meaning of the petition in the form of words which our Lord gave to his disciples. It is a prayer that the will of God may become the law of our life that we may learn to do it always. This embraces all obedience’s, all duties, the whole of our common life. It includes all the sweet, happy experiences we have in our homes and among our friends, all the gladness of love, all the pleasures of social intercourse. It is a prayer that in all the varied conditions and circumstances of life we may do the things that will please God.
There is nothing in this that is painful or hard. There is a secret of very sweet joy which is found always in the doing of God’s will. It brings the approval of conscience – the bird that sings in the heart when one does right. Then it insures to us the commendation and the companionship of God. It was Jesus himself who said, “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” Great gladness is found in the doing of God’s will. Instead of meaning something bitter and sorrowful, it means the doing of things that should be easy and pleasant.
The standard which is set for us in the prayer, as our Lord has given it to us, indicates in a very clear and remarkable manner that it is a joyous thing to which we are summoned. We are taught to pray that the divine will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. How is the will of God done in heaven? Surely it does not there mean sorrow, loss, pain, sacrifice. The inhabitants of heaven are never called to stand beside dying children or beside new made graves, to give up out of their hands the treasures of love they prize more than life.
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