“Thy will be done.”
Consider this–If we really did God’s will, there would be no need to pray this petition. Therefore, it is our Lord’s desire for us to pray against our self, that is our flesh. Luther commented on this fact:
For if we really did His will, this petition would not be necessary. It is really frightening to hear ourselves say, “Thy will be done.” What can be more terrible than our own frank admission in this petition that God’s will is not being done, and that His commandment is disdained. If we pray in this manner, it is obviously true that we are not doing and have not done God’s will.
So then, this petition brings about genuine humility and a fear of God and his judgment, and we are happy to escape God’s judgment and to be saved by pure mercy and grace.
You may say, “Well, did God not endow us with a free will?” To be sure, He gave us a free will. But why do we want to make it our own will? Why not let it remain free? If we do with it whatever we will, it is not a free will, but our own will. God did not give us or anyone else a will of our own. Our own will comes from the devil and from Adam, who transformed the free will received from God into his own. A free will does not want its own way, but looks only to God’s will for direction. By so doing it then also remains free, untrammeled and unshackled.
Therefore, our life of faith is receptive. It is not inactive, since faith is a “living, busy, active mighty thing,” We receive God’s will for ourselves through His powerfully, effective, proclaimed Word, and He works His mighty work in us faithfully. So, we keep praying, “Thy will be done.”
