Psalm 143:10:

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

 

The Prayers of David

David prayed for a lot of things, as the Psalms clearly show. He prayed for vindication, for forgiveness, for mercy, for blessing, for God to search his heart, for God to raise him up and to rescue him.

We could easily spend a whole series unpacking the prayers of David. Here I just want to focus on one area – praying for God’s will.

So, we want to know his will, and we want to know how to do it.

Let’s take a moment right now to pray this prayer. Think of a situation that it can apply to. Then I’ll reinforce the prayer with some teaching, and we’ll pray it again.

What can we learn from this prayer of David?

 

1: It shows we’re born again

We would not be praying this prayer if we did not believe.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Without God, we have no reason to seek his will and we generally do not care.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2:3)

The true believer is a new creation and there is a change of heart. Repentance has taken place and a complete change of direction in thought, word and deed must follow.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

If someone claims to have committed their life to Christ, but shows no desire to live to please their saviour, have they really understood the gospel? Do they recognise who God is and what he has done for them? Every genuine convert to Christianity will find themselves asking God to “Teach me to do your will”.

Praying this prayer in all sincerity of heart is a sign that you are a born-again believer.

If you’ve asked Jesus into your heart and are praying this prayer and mean it, congratulations! You’re a child of the king and he is pleased with you. He will surely answer.

 

2: It involves faith

You wouldn’t pray this prayer if you didn’t believe he had a plan for your life.

Paul said to the Colossians,

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. (Colossians 1:9)

Imagine being filled with the knowledge of his will! This comes through the Holy Spirit as the verse goes on to show. But the point here is, Paul believed that God had a perfect plan for each of the readers of his letter. He prayed that they would see it by the Holy Spirit.

Do you really believe God has a plan for your life? Does the current evidence suggest otherwise? Have faith. Remember, they are his plans, not yours. And what you are going through might be exactly what he has either permitted for a purpose or sent your way for reasons you may not understand until much later on.

Lord, teach me to do your will while things don’t make sense, in both the highs and lows of life.

This is a prayer of faith.

 

3: It requires surrender

David prays, “Teach me to do your will”. If we pray this, we are acknowledging that we need to be taught. We must have a teachable spirit.

What if God was more willing guide us than we were to be guided?

Is it possible that we ask God to lead us in his way but then close our minds to some of the more awkward challenges he may have for us? A prayer like this requires total surrender. It is therefore a dangerous prayer.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

This is the attitude that asks God to teach us his way, however much or however little it suits our preferences.

1. Offer your body
2. This is pleasing to God!
3. Don’t conform
4. Renew your mind
5. Then you’ll know his will

 

4: It suggests action

We all know that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, ‘Let your will be done’. Here, David has the same attitude but asks that David himself would be able to discern and do God’s will. This is a useful distinction because otherwise it’s too easy for us to become lazy and ask God to let his will be done without asking him what our involvement in it might be.

Let’s pray not only that we would know his will, but also trust that he will give us the knowledge, skills and everything we need to do that will.

 

How does the Lord teach us His will?

• Through his word. In the Bible we have a declaration of God’s will in general terms. Most of the guidance God gives in His Word is through certain clearly stated principles.
• Promptings of His Spirit. David knew this, even before the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost:

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. (Psalm 143:10)

But don’t forget point 1! It’s not the Holy Spirit’s guidance if it is contrary to the clear teaching of the Word of God. Why not pray that God will start to increasingly prompt you to do his will. Ask him to teach you to recognise his voice more and more.

• Closed and Opened Doors. God guides us through many the circumstances of life.
• Good Advice. He leads us by the wise counsel of Christian friends and loved ones.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)

• Colossians 3 tells us to let the peace of God rule in your heart. God is not in a hurry. Relax and search for peace.
• Let’s not rule out the miraculous, supernatural leading of God. I separate this from Holy Spirit promptings which are more common and suggest that God can move in mysterious ways through angelic agency and unexpected dreams and visions.

 

Praying like David

Let us pray then, that God would not only show us his will, but teach us how to walk in it. I imagine David was well aware that to just ask to know God’s will would, on its own, scare him! But to have the reassurance that God will teach us how to do his will, some of which we may already know, is a wonderful thing.

Remember how this verse ends – with the Spirit leading us on level ground. Let’s pray, believing that God will make a way for us as we make way for his will in our lives.

 

Home Group Activities

1. Read Psalm 143:10.
2. Ask people to bring to mind something where they would love to hear God’s will. No need to share – it may be personal.
3. Pray that God will begin to show us his will even in this meeting.
4. Read Romans 12:1-2. What do we learn about finding God’s will from this passage? (see point 3 in my notes for help if you need it!)
5. How does the Lord teach us his will? Ask the group for examples. And / or go through my 6 points above, pausing for discussion.
6. Pray again for God’s will to be done in our lives and in our community. We know much of God’s will, e.g. for people to be saved from sin. But the prayer is to ‘teach’ us his will. That means there are unknown aspects of his will for us to find out from him.

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