God’s will

Today we come to the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done”.  God’s will means what God wishes should happen.  Everything that God wishes is good.  It always has and it always will be.  For goodness streams from God like the light streams from the sun.  It is only the Devil and human beings who wish to do what is evil and wrong.  The evil in the world, the hatred and the anger and the violence which cause so much suffering, all that is caused by the people whom God has made, not by God himself.

Our God-given freedom

You may ask why God does not make people do what he wishes.  Why does he not force us to do what we ought to do?  He could force us, of course, but first he would have to take away our freedom and then we should no longer be real people.  We should be like puppets in a toy theatre, made to do this and that as the person behind the scenes pulls the strings.  But God wishes us to be real people, not mechanical figures, and so he leaves us free to do as we wish. 

Good out of evil and unpleasant happenings

Living our lives as human beings involves being exposed to risks and this may sometimes result in unpleasant happenings, such as accidents.  Sometimes accidents happen because of the thoughtless, reckless behaviour of human beings, for instance, a drunk driver who injures a pedestrian.  But other accidents just happen, as for example when a child learning to ride a bicycle falls off and breaks a wrist.