Conformity to the Will of God

Conformity to the Will of God

Have you ever listened to yourself pray?  Or for that matter have you ever listened to others pray?  It would seem that very often in prayer we do not typically pray for God’s will to be done as much as we pray for “our will to be done,” so to speak.  In other words, when most people pray, it seems that they are praying for things that they need at the time:  a job . . . . health . . . . personal relationships  . . . .  finances . . . .  the list goes on and on and on.  Typically when most people pray, let’s face it, it is when people are desperate for an answer.  Quite frankly, though, we should go to God in all situations and NOT only when we need something from God.  As we ascend spiritually, so to speak, we will find that our relationship with God is based on doing His will and not based on our own.  As such, the question becomes “how do I do the will of God in my life?”  “How do I make my life more ‘in tune’ with God and what He wants?” 

Saint Alphonsus Liguori wrote:  "If we wish to Satisfy the Heart of God, we must in everything, bring our own Will into Conformity with His. We must also Strive to bring our Will into Uniformity with His, as regards all that He Commands."

In regards to the above two sentences, St. Alphonsus gave us an awful lot to ponder in those few words.  In its’ totality, I think these two short sentences would be enough to scare anyone away.  I mean, let’s face it, how does one “satisfy the Heart of God?”  How do we bring “everything” in our life and conform it to the will of God?  How do we follow “all that He Commands?”  Surely, we must be set up for failure based on what was said above.  But is that really the case?  Why don’t we break it down into three short points and go from there.

1)      “Satisfy the Heart of God”

This is certainly easier “said” than “done,” but how in the world do we satisfy the Heart of God?  As stated above, St. Alphonsus wrote that we must do everything with God in mind.  I would imagine this word “everything” is what scares people off.  It’s not that people are not wanting to be in union with God.  Yes, people want to do the will of God.  People want to do God’s will.   In Proverbs we read:  "The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want."  (Proverbs 13:25)  Did you ever eat a good meal and get really satisfied?   It's funny how we human beings stay "satisfied" for such a short period of time.  Even when we get a "full belly" we soon start thinking of other things that would "satisfy" our hunger.  St. Augustine had this in mind when he wrote his "Confessions."  St. Augustine discovered in his own life that he would be "satisfied" with something until it became "boring" to him.   In other words, he would keep doing something until it did not satisfy him any longer.  In the case of St Augustine, he found "satisfaction" in a number of items:  love of women . . . love of drink . . . . love of learning.   St. Augustine became "consumed" with each of these things in his life.   All of them brought him pleasure and satisfaction and contentment.  Each one of them satisfied him briefly . . . . that is, until they no longer satisfied him.  And at that point he would go in search of something else that would "satisfy" him.  He had a passion for everything that brought him satisfaction.  That is, until it no longer satisfied him and then he would simply move on to something else.  What St. Augustine discovered was that every thing that he thought satisfied him ultimately came to an end.  St Augustine discovered that only "true satisfaction" . . . . . in other words, "lasting satisfaction" . . . .  came from the love of God.  All else ultimately fails.  The only thing that is never-ending for us is the love of God.  He is truly satisfying.  And we satisfy God ultimately by going to Him .  . . . . listening to Him . . . . spending time with Him.  God knows that we are not perfect.  God knows that we will make mistakes.  But we can satisfy the Heart of God by bringing ourselves to Him and committing ourselves to Him.

2)      Bring Our Will

What does Our Blessed Saviour have to say in this regard?  In the Tenth Chapter of St. John’s Gospel, Our Lord states:  “I and My Father are One.” (St. John 10:30)   Have you ever worked on a project where the people involved are not 'working as one?"  In other words, one person sees the project going one direction and then someone else sees the project in a different way.  And before you know it, the project is not going anywhere because nobody can "get together."  In football, can you imagine all the players on the offensive line doing their "own thing."  One player goes this way and another players goes his own direction and so on.   In order for the play to work, each of the players have to be on the "same page," so to speak.  In the spiritual sense, we have to be on the "same page" with God.  This is why Our Blessed Saviour could say that "I and My Father are One."  Have you ever been in the position of speaking for someone else?   In order to do this, we have to know the person we are representing.  We have to know what they would do and what they would want done in a given situation.  "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?  He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father."  (St. John 14:9)  People have said to me in the past that they see my mother in me.  Or they might say they see my father when they look at me.  It might be the way that I look.  Or it might be the things I say.  It might be how I move my fingers or walk a certain way or laugh a certain way.  Children reflect their parents.  Students reflect their teachers.  We, as Christians, reflect Christ.  In order to do this we need to know God and what He would want us to do.  We have to make God's will our will.  So often, as we were saying above about "prayer," we want our will to be done instead of God's will.  We need to bring our will into tune with God's will.  

3)      All that He Commands

St. Paul writes:  "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  (I Thessalonians 5:18)  The concept "everything" scares a lot of people.  But if you are anything like me, you give your "everything" when you have a passion for it.  If you discover that you have a "passion" for a specific sport or a specific sports team, don't you spend countless hours watching games . . . . buying tickets . . . buying books  . . . . finding scores  . . .  learning about specific players?   Same way with someone who discovers a love of music, that person spends their time learning their craft, . . . . practicing  their instrument, . . . . spending time with other musicians.  Whether your passion is sports . . .  or music . . . . or cooking . . . learning a language . . . .  or a relationship with the love of your life . . . whatever example we come up with, we give it our "all."  We do everything we can to satisfy our passion.  This is how it should be with God.  We should give Him our "all."  So often for us, though, we give Him our "all" when the time is right . . .  when we need something . . . . when we are ready.  We should always be ready to do the will of God and all that He commands in our life.    This takes time and effort on our part.  We need to continually put into practice thinking of God in everything that we do, whether that be our prayer life, or the way we relate to others around us:  family, friends, coworkers, even complete strangers.  Habits take time . . . whether they are good habits or bad habits.  Habits don't develop after one time or one day or one week or one year.  When  it comes to God and Spiritual things, as human beings, we are impatient.  We want everything now.  We want it five minutes ago.  And if we don't have the "perfect" relation with God right away, we get disappointed and give up.  Our challenge is to continually grow in our relationship with God.  The challenge is not to be "perfect."  If that was the key everyone of us would fail.  But as long as we continue to grow in our love for God, we will continue to grow obedient to Him in everything that we do.  The key is to have God in mind when we have to decide things in our life.  Too often, we only have ourselves in mind when we make decisions in our life.