“Your Will Be Done” (Day 5 of Lord's Prayer)

Praying to the One Who Repairs our Ruptures

Photo by Szilvia Basso on Unsplash

For those suffering from abuse, trauma, neglect, or abandonment, it’s confusing to pray for someone else’s will to be done.

On the one hand, those in the Jungle who have suffered through inconsistent care, abuse, and trauma are all too ready to defer to someone else’ will.  This happens for at least two reasons. 

1. They rely on and defer to the will of others because they have been trained into this (either by force or by circumstances). They distrust or ignore their own desires, plans, hopes, or dreams.

2. Or, they rely on the will and decisions of others because they genuinely do not know what they would do (they don’t know their own desires, plans, hopes, or dreams.

On the other hand, those in the Desert who have been neglected or abandoned, they learned to survive on their own relationally and emotionally (even if their physical needs were provided). 

These kinds of people find it very difficult to submit to the will of someone else because their survival depended on taking action for themselves and not waiting on another.

This post is the 5th of an 8-part series on the Lord’s Prayer that I’m experimenting with for paid subscribers who help support these resources. Please consider supporting (Previous Posts: Day 0, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4)

So, for Jungle people, their growth in maturity is to develop their own sense of will. They need to stop deferring their will.

And for Desert people, their growth in maturity is to develop a sense of trust in others by submitting their will. They need to stop preferring their will.

All this confusion and difficulty is why Jesus only teaches us to pray to our Father, “Your will be done…” after the other foundational parts have been laid.

“Your will be done” in the context of the Lord’s Prayer

Jesus only teach us to pray that the Father’s will be done…