Thomas Watson · 21 of 36

The Third Petition in the Lord’s Prayer · Part 5

(25) Consider the example of our Lord Jesus, how flexible and submissive was he to his Father! He who taught us this prayer, ‘Thy will be done,’ had learned it himself. Christ’s will was perfectly tuned to his Father’s will; it was the will of his Father that he should die for our sins, and he ‘endured the cross.’ Heb 12: 2. It was a painful, shameful, cursed death; he suffered the very pains of hell equivalently, yet he willingly submitted. ‘He opened not his mouth:’ he opened his side when the blood ran out, but he opened not his mouth in repining; his will was resolved into the will of his Father. Isa 53: 7. ‘The cup which my Father has given me shall I not drink it?’ John 18: 11. Now, the more our wills are subject to God’s will in affliction, the nearer we come to Christ our pattern. Is it not our prayer that we may be like Christ? By holy submission we imitate him; his will was melted into his Father’s will.

(26) Consider that to submit our wills to God, is the way to have our own will. Every one would be glad to have his will. The way to have our will is to resign it. God deals with us as we do with froward children, while we fret and quarrel, he will give us nothing, but when we are submissive, and say, ‘Thy will be done,’ he carves out mercy to us. The way to have our will is to submit to his. David brought his will to God’s. ‘Here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.’ 2 Samuel 15: 26. After he resigned his will he had his will. God brought him back to the ark and settled him again on his throne. 2 Samuel 19. Many a parent who has had a dear child sick, when he could bring his will to part with it, has had his child restored. Nothing is lost by referring our will to God, the Lord takes it kindly from us, and it is the only way to have our will.

(27) Consider that we may the more cheerfully surrender our souls to God when we die, when we have surrendered our will to God while we live. Our blessed Saviour had all along submitted his will to God. There was but one will between God the Father and Christ. Christ in his lifetime having given up his will to his Father, at death cheerfully gave up his soul to him. ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ Luke 23: 46. You that resign up your wills to God, may at the hour of death comfortably bequeath your souls to him.

[2] The second means to bring our will to God in affliction is, to study his will.

(1) It is a sovereign will. He has a supreme right and dominion over his creatures, to dispose of them as he pleases. A man may do with his own as he lists. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?’ Matt 20: 15. A man may cut his own timber as he will. God’s sovereignty may cause submission; he may do with us as he sees good. He is not accountable to any creature for what he does. ‘He giveth not account of any of his matters.’ Job 33: 13. Who shall call God to account? Who is higher than the highest? Eccl 5: 8. What man or angel dare summon God to his bar? ‘He giveth not account of any of his matters.’ God will take an account of our carriage towards him, but he will give no account of his carriage towards us. He has an absolute jurisdiction over us, the remembrance of which, as a sovereign will, to do with us what he pleases, may silence all discontents, and charm down all unruly passions. We are not to dispute, but to submit.

(2) God’s will is wise. He knows what is conducive to the good of his people, therefore submit. ‘The Lord is a God of judgement,’ that is, he is able to judge what is best for us; therefore rest in his wisdom and acquiesce in his will. Isa 30: 18. We rest in the wisdom of a physician; we are content he should scarify and let blood, because he injudicious, and knows what is most conducive to our health. If the pilot be skilful, the passenger says, ‘Let him alone; he knows best how to steer the ship.’ Shall we not rest in God’s wisdom? Did we but study how wisely he steers all occurrences, and how he often brings us to heaven by a cross wind, it would much quiet our spirits, and make us say, ‘Thy will be done.’ God’s will is guided by wisdom. Should he sometimes let us have our will, we should undo ourselves; did he let us carve for ourselves, we should choose the worst piece. Lot chose Sodom because it was well watered, and was as the garden of the Lord, but God rained fire upon it out of heaven. Gen 13: 10; Gen 19: 24.

(3) God’s will is just. ‘Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?’ Gen 18: 25. God’s will is regula et mensura [rule and measure], it is the rule of justice. The wills of men are corrupt, therefore unfit to give law; but God’s will is a holy and unerring will, which may cause submission. Psa 97: 2. God may cross, but he cannot wrong us; severe he may be, not unjust; therefore we must strike sail, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’

(4) God’s will is good and gracious. It promotes our interest: if it be his will to afflict us, he shall make us say at last, it was good for us that we were afflicted. His flail shall only thresh off our husks. That which is against our will shall not be against our profit. Let us study what a good will God’s is, and we shall say, fiat voluntas, ‘Thy will be done.’

(5) God’s will is irresistible. We may oppose it, but we cannot hinder it. The rising wave cannot stop the ship when it is in full sail, so the rising up of our will against God cannot stop the execution of his will. ‘Who has resisted his will?’ Rom 9: 19. Who can stay the chariot of the sun in its full career? Who can hinder the progress of God’s will? Therefore it is in vain to contest with God; his will shall take place: there is no way to overcome him but by lying at his feet.

[3] The means of submission to God in affliction is, to get a gracious heart. All the rules and helps in the world will do but little good till grace is infused. The bowl must have a good bias, or it will not run according to our desire; so till God put a new bias of grace into the soul, which inclines the will, it never submits to him. Grace renews the will, and it must be renewed before it be subdued. Grace teaches self-denial, and we can never submit our will till we deny it.

[4] A fourth means is to labour to have our covenant interest cleared, to know that God is our God. ‘This God is our God.’ Psa 48: 14. He whose faith flourishes in assurance, that can say God is his, will say, ‘Thy will be done.’ A wicked man may say, ‘God has laid this affliction upon me, and I cannot help it;’ but a believer says, ‘My God has done it, and I will submit.’ He who can call God his, knows God loves him as he loves Christ, and designs his salvation; therefore he will, with Paul, take pleasure in reproaches. 2 Cor 12: 10. In every adverse providence yield to God, as the wax to the impression of the seal.

[5] Another means to submission to God in affliction is, to get a humble spirit. A proud man will never stoop to God; he will rather break than bend; but when the heart is humble, the will is pliable. What a vast difference was there between Pharaoh and Eli! Pharaoh cried out, ‘Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?’ Exod 5: 2. But Eli said, ‘It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.’ 1 Sam 3: 18. See the difference between a heart that is swelled with pride, and that which is ballasted with humility! Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Eli, ‘It is the Lord.’ A humble soul has a deep sense of sin, he sees how he has provoked God, he wonders he is not in hell; therefore, whatever God inflicts, he knows it is less than his iniquities deserve, which makes him say, ‘Lord, thy will be done.’ O, get into a humble posture. The will is never flexible till the heart is humble.

[6] Another means is to get your hearts loosened from things below. Be crucified to the world. Whence children’s frowardness but when you take away their playthings? When we love the things of the world, and God takes them away from us, we grow froward and unsubmissive to his will. Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd; and when God smote it, he grew froward, and because God had killed his gourd, he said, Kill me too. Jonah 4: 8. He who is a lover of the world, can never pray this prayer heartily: ‘Thy will be done;’ his heart boils with anger against God; and when the world is gone, his patience is gone too. Get mortified affections to these sublunary things.

[7] A further means for submission to God’s will is to get some good persuasion that your sin is pardoned. Feri, Domine, feri, quia peccate mea condonata sunt: Lord, smite where thou wilt,’ said Luther, ‘because my sins are pardoned.’ Pardon of sin is a crowning blessing. Has God forgiven my sin? I will bear anything; I will not murmur but admire; I will not complain of the burden of affliction, but bless God for removing the burden of sin. The pardoned soul says this prayer heartily, ‘Thy will be done.’ Lord, use thy pruning- knife, so long as thou wilt not come with thy bloody axe to hew me down.

[8] Another means is, if we would have our wills submit to God, not to look so much on the dark side of the cloud as the light side; that is, let us not look so much on the smart of affliction as the good. It is bad to pore all on the smart, as it is bad for sore eyes to look too much on the fire; but we should look on the good of affliction. Samson not only looked on the lion’s carcass, but on the honeycomb within it. ‘He turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was honey in the carcass.’ Judges 14: 8. Affliction is the frightful lion, but see what honey there is in it. It humbles, purifies, fills us with the consolations of God; there is honey in the belly of the lion. Could we but look upon the benefit of affliction, stubbornness would be turned into submissiveness, and we should say, ‘Thy will be done.’

[9] As a further means, let us pray to God that he would calm our spirits and conquer our wills. It is no easy thing to submit to God in affliction. There will be risings of the heart; therefore let us pray that what God inflicts righteously, we may bear patiently. Prayer is the best spell or charm against impatience. It does to the heart what Christ did to the sea when it was tempestuous, he rebuked the wind, and there was a great calm. So, when passions are up, and the will is apt to mutiny against God, prayer makes a gracious calm in the soul. Prayer does to the heart what sponge does to the cannon: when hot, it cools it.

[10] Another means, if we would submit to God’s will in affliction, is to put a good interpretation upon God’s dealings, and take all he does in the best sense. We are apt to misconstrue God’s dealings, and put a bad interpretation upon them, as Israel did. ‘Why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die there?’ Numb 20: 4. God has brought affliction upon us, we say, because he hates us, and intends to destroy us; and such hard thoughts of God cause sullenness and stubbornness. Oh, let us make a fair and candid interpretation of providence. Does God afflict us? Say, perhaps he intends us mercy in this: he will try us whether we will love him in afflictions; he is about to mortify some sin, or exercise some grace; he smites the body that he may save the soul. Could we put such a good meaning upon God’s dealings, we should say, ‘Thy will be done.’ ‘Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.’ Psa 141: 5.

[11] The last means, if you would submit to God in affliction, is to believe that the present condition is best for you. We are not competent judges. We fancy it is best to have ease and plenty, and have the rock pour out rivers of oil; but God sees affliction to be best. He sees our souls thrive best upon the bare common. The fall of the leaf is the spring of our grace. Could we believe that condition to be best which God carves out to us, the quarrel would soon be at an end, and we should sit down satisfied with what he does, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’