Resignation To The Will Of God

 "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" 

"And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done." (Acts 21: 14)

"Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22: 42)

It is a mark of a mature Christian to be always resigned to the will of God. I don't mean resignation in the sense of throwing up our hands and giving up. I don't mean being resigned to circumstances we can and ought to change. The kind of resignation I am talking about should be coveted and is described in the famous "serenity prayer." It says:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."

Resignation involves accepting things that cannot be changed, not a giving up or quitting under fire. It does not involve resigning oneself to circumstances that can be changed. We need to change the things we can, all the time trusting in God's promise to provide strength of will and means to do so. Of course, this takes wisdom to know the difference between things we can and ought to change and things that we cannot change.

Resignation to the will of God is opposed to murmuring and complaining. Resignation involves contentment, of being satisfied, and having a mind free of worry. A heart and mind resigned to the will of God confesses: 

"LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me." (Psa. 131: 1)

Resignation to God's will involves learning and accepting our limitations. It means setting realistic goals for ourselves and not having goals that are unreachable. In doing so we save ourselves from unnecessary disappointment. 

Henry David Thoreau said: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation." 

I certainly do agree that people often resign themselves to circumstances that they think cannot be changed for the better and thus become despondent or in "confirmed desperation." Let us ask God for the wisdom to know what we can and ought to change and know also when to quietly accept the things we cannot change. 

Dr. John Gill provided an excellent treatise on "Resignation To The Will Of God" in chapter 16 of his Body of Practical Divinity. He defined resignation to the will of God as being "submissive to his will, both to do and suffer whatever is his pleasure to call them to."

"And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good." (I Sam. 3: 18)