Thy Will Be Done (Matthew 12; Lord's Day 49)

Thy Will Be Done

For what we pray.
1. The will of God’s command is His desire/pleasure for the moral attitude and conduct of His moral creatures (Romans 12:2).
2. God’s will is revealed and known.
  1. The Bible is the revelation of God’s will – the only revelation of it, and thus is the infallible rule for obedience.
  2. God clearly and unambiguously reveals His will in His law.
As the children of our Father, we pray that His will be done.
1. Implied is that that we also have a will, which is always limited and dependent, unable to determine correctly right and wrong.
  1. Sin corrupts our will, so we naturally and proudly want to do the opposite of what God wants (Job. 21:14; Rom. 8:7).
  2. Re-birth enables believers to will correctly, i.e., to do God’s will.
2. First, this petition is a request for grace to deny ourselves (Matt. 16:24).
3. Second, we are asking for the grace of obedience.
4. Third, we are asking for the grace to “perform the duties of our station and calling.”
“As in heaven” is added to indicate what kind of obedience we want, namely, we lovingly desire to please our heavenly Father.
1. The angels in heaven are rational moral creatures who perfectly do God’s will (Psalm 103:20,21; Isa. 6:2,3).
2. “As” refers to the kind of obedience.
3. While not yet perfectly delivered from sin, it is our Father’s will that we desire perfection and constantly pray for it.