Thy Will Be Done or Have It Your Way

A favorite quote of mine from C.S. Lewis is found in his work, “The Great Divorce.” As he is so apt to do, Lewis captures with just a few words the essence of both practical and spiritual reality. He wrote,  “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.’” People who truly seek God, will diligently seek his will. They will place their trust in that will, and they will live their lives accordingly. Others may appear to seek God, but in the end, they are seeking to establish their own will, and so, sadly, God tells them that if they aren’t interested in his will – which is the highest possible good for their lives – then they can have it their own way. That way is always away from God and toward a kind of hell, which they are too blind to see.  

Paul touches on this process when he is warning his kinsmen in the nation of Israel against the hardening of their hearts by quoting psalms, along with the prophet Isaiah (Romans 11:7-10, Psalm 69:22-23, Isaiah 6:9-10). His kinsmen had rejected Jesus, and were seeking to establish their own righteousness through their own works (Romans 10:3). In what is considered by the New Testament writers to be a fundamental Messianic psalm, the psalmist says that the rejectors of God should be ensnared by what was meant for their welfare (KJV). The law was meant to show Israel how far they were from being the image bearer that God had intended them to be, and in their law-inspired humility then recognize the ultimate embodiment of that image when it arrived on the scene. Instead, they used the law as a way to lift themselves above others. It should have invoked personal humility, but instead it invoked pride as they accentuated their outward religious appearance so that they could be seen as pious (Matthew 23:5). Isaiah says that such rejectors of God should have their hearts hardened, and their eyes darkened, and their ears plugged so that they cannot feel the truth, see the truth, or hear the truth of God and thereby enjoy his blessings. Interestingly, when Jesus arrived, their will was not for God, but for themselves, so God said to them, “ok, thy will be done.” When the Messiah then stood  before them, they could neither see him for who he was, nor hear him for the blessing and wisdom he was offering.  Isaiah’s prophecy had come to fruition. The tragedy of that is in how religious people missed the very God of their religion when he was standing right in front of them because they subverted his will beneath their own desires. That terrible end is not limited to pharisaical Jews in the first century either.  Today many people present themselves as religious, but their god is the god of their stomach (Philippians 3:18-19). Good things that are meant for human welfare – food and drink, a good income, housing, status, or sensual pleasures become the point, rather than the God who provides those things. Their will is not God-centered. It’s self-centered. Hearts get deceived and hardened in that kind of mindset.

The reality of that hardening process can be so subtle that we must always remember that from God and through God and to God are all things. To him be glory forever. He is the highest possible good. Amen.