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I Desire To Do Your Will

             I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)

 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1)

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (I Timothy 2:1-1)

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:43-44)

I have to admit, this passage makes me chuckle a little because it was the verse of the day on Biblegateway.com the day I wrote yesterday’s post. So, we have the “I trying to do Your will…No, you’re not,” followed by “I desire to do Your will…Your law is in my heart.” And it is. Maybe not in its entirety, but it’s basically there. The example that comes to mind is based on the second verse above. We’re supposed to obey civil law, like speed limits.

Us: “I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”

God: “Be subject to governing authorities. Drive the speed limit. Pray for Mr. Biden, Mrs. Harris, Mr. Trump, and those who disagree with you in the same way you would pray for them if you agreed with them. Love them equally.”[1]

Us: “Oh, well, let’s not get too carried away here, God.”

The issues might not be the ones I listed. The point is that God’s law is in our hearts, but that doesn’t mean we’re as good about living those laws as we should be. David was described as a man after God’s own heart, but he committed adultery, murdered his lover’s husband, and later took a census of the warriors in Israel. All those were against the law.

Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Joshua, Elijah, Jonah, Job, Peter, James, John, and Paul are the beginning of a list of those whom we might call spiritual giants, and every one of them did things they shouldn’t have. So it should be no surprise to us when we find ourselves saying, “Eh, it’s OK” to something that something within us says it’s wrong. We know better than to speed. We know God doesn’t approve of certain things, but we stick our metaphorical fingers in our spiritual ears and say “Na Na Na Na…I can’t hear you” to that still, small voice in our hearts.

We desire to do God’s will. We do. Often, we think of it in terms of the big things. Yes, let’s go slay that dragon! But God has asked us to take out the trash. Yes, let’s make this bit of evil illegal! But God has asked us to obey the law by driving the speed limit. Yes, let’s evangelize the whole world! But God has asked us to go visit a neighbor, or give up an addiction, or honor our parents. It’s there. We just need to listen.


[1] By the way, loving a political candidate does not require that you vote for that person. It just means you seek and pray for what is in their best interest, which begins with salvation and might include losing the election.

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