To Love God and His Will
“To love God is to love His will. It is to wait quietly for life to be measured by One who knows us through and through. It is to be content with His timing and His wise appointment.”
How often do we say we love God? Frequently, I would say.
How often do we say we love His will? Rarely, if ever, I would assume.
The will of God—His sovereignty on display in the broad strokes of colossal life change and in the minuscule details marking seemingly mundane moments. Although we say we love Him, do we love the expression of His divine sovereignty? Do we love the combination of His control, authority, and presence responding to our yes, writing every chapter in our story, and laying out the pieces of our life as a master puzzle builder.
His will so often missed and misunderstood, because we’re transfixed with our own dreams and desires. Instead of looking at what He’s written so far and leaning in to see what He’s scratching out in our today, we’re grasping for a pen that we can never hold, trying to dictate the storyline to get to our own happy ending.
I’ve struggled with this, because if my yes to Him is true, it’s a yes to His will—it’s a yes to His plans. It’s a yes to His sovereignty, which means everything happens according to His will and intention. It’s a yes to never fully understanding His ways, but fully trusting His heart.
It’s a yes to following in the footsteps of Jesus, being led like a lamb wherever the Shepherd leads.
If the path He chooses is full and exhilarating or simple and seemingly uneventful…
If the path He chooses is filled with influence and spectators or hidden and unseen…
If the path He chooses holds challenge and pain or comfort and peace…
Whatever it may be, if I love Him, I will love His will and His ways.
This bucks the message that we so often preach and the gospel we believe we follow. Because, what He often allows, the tools He uses, and the plans He enacts, we often shy away from, shun, and resist. They’re not typically gift wrapped, laid at our feet, and decorated for appeal, but somewhat like a babe wrapped in swaddling cloth—seemingly normal, undesirable, and quite un-extraordinary.
I’ve been here. But, the more I love Him, the more I love His will. Though often shrouded in mystery, accompanied by pruning, and partnered with lessons in humility, it’s better. The more I mature, letting my roots go down deep, the more I believe His ways are past finding out, but they’re always good.
Always better.
Always best.
If you find yourself here, loving God, but questioning His will for your life or the ways He’s using, remember where you’ve come from, how He’s brought you to where you are now, and the perfect love that guides His purposes for your life.
Learn to love His will.