The Weight of a Prayer
There are times when I say the words, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” and they stick in my throat.
Not because I don’t believe in God’s power.
But because sometimes it feels impossible to see how His will could ever be done in this world — this fractured, chaotic world.
I want to believe. I really do. But then I turn on the news, and it’s all I can do to hold on to hope.
You know the stories.
Political division that rips families apart.
A never-ending stream of violence, corruption, and hatred.
It feels like there’s this gaping wound in our country — no, in our world — and no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to heal it. We just keep making it worse.
Habakkuk 1:2–3 (NIV)
“How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?”
I’m a pastor. Yet, If I’m honest… my faith at times is weak.
At times, I struggle to see how God can fix this.
The political divide feels too deep, too toxic, too far gone.
How do we get back to any sense of unity when we can’t even have a civil conversation anymore? Where do we even begin when we’re so entrenched in our camps, with walls built up higher and higher every day?
I’ve had moments where I’ve felt like maybe, just maybe, we’re beyond saving.
And that’s hard to admit.
When Faith Gets Personal
But it’s not just the world at large.
It’s personal.
These past few years, I’ve felt that tension between the “already” and the “not yet” in ways that hit a little too close to home.
I lost my grandpa to sickness. He was one of those steady presences in my life, always there, always full of quiet wisdom and love. And then one day, he wasn’t.
Not long after that, I lost my cousin in a car accident. No warning, no time to prepare. Just… gone.
And I found myself standing there, numb, wondering how in the world this could be God’s will. How could His Kingdom come in the face of so much loss?
How could I pray “Your will be done” when it felt like everything was unraveling?
It’s in these moments, when I’m face-to-face with the brokenness in my own life, that the doubt creeps in.
Does God really see this? Does He really care?
The Prayer as Rebellion
And yet… Jesus calls us to pray. To keep praying. To keep believing. Even when the world looks like it’s falling apart.
To pray “Your will be done” is an act of rebellion against the forces of darkness.
It’s a stubborn refusal to give in to the despair that threatens to swallow us whole. It’s choosing to trust that God is still at work, even when all the evidence seems to scream the opposite.
It’s standing in the gap between heaven and earth, knowing that God’s Kingdom is both here… and not yet.
It’s praying for justice in a world that feels unjust. It’s believing in healing when all you see is brokenness.
And it’s trusting that one day all wrongs will be made right, all sad things will end, and the King will return to make all broken things whole.
2nd Corinthians 4:16–18 (NIV)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
The Struggle of Faith
But let’s not sugarcoat it. This kind of faith? It’s hard.
Some days, it feels like God’s will is a million miles away from the mess we’re living in. Some days, the pain is so sharp, the questions so loud, that it feels impossible to believe.
But that’s exactly when we’re called to lean in.
To pray anyway.
To anchor ourselves in the hope that God’s ways are higher than ours.
To trust that even when we can’t see it, His will is good.
The Kingdom in Small Things
It’s easy to talk about faith when things are going well. When life is smooth and you feel like God is close.
But when the storms hit — when you’re standing at a graveside, or watching the news, or feeling like the world is too far gone — that’s when this prayer becomes a lifeline.
Because here’s the thing: God’s Kingdom doesn’t come in the ways we expect. It doesn’t come with fanfare or grand gestures. It often comes in the quiet, unseen places.
In the small acts of love that go unnoticed. In the whispered prayers of the weary.
It comes in the courage to keep hoping, even when everything around you feels hopeless.
Where Do You Struggle?
So, where do you struggle to believe that God’s will can be done?
What’s that one place in your life where it feels too broken, too messy, too far gone?
Maybe it’s a relationship that feels beyond repair. Maybe it’s a dream that’s been crushed. Maybe it’s the pain of loss, the ache of unanswered prayers, the deep wounds that still haven’t healed.
Whatever it is, bring it to God today.
Be raw. Be honest.
Tell Him where you’re struggling to see His will at work. And then ask for the faith to trust Him anyway.
This prayer isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s about choosing to believe in a God who is still writing the story, even when we can’t see how it will end.
It’s about trusting that His Kingdom is coming. Slowly, quietly, in ways we might not even notice at first. But it iscoming.
The Prayer
So we pray.
“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Even when it feels impossible.
Especially when it feels impossible.
Let’s pray:
God, I don’t always understand Your will. Sometimes it feels far away, and I struggle to see how You can be at work in the brokenness around me. In the division, in the pain, in the loss.
But I believe that You are good. I believe that Your ways are higher than mine, and that Your Kingdom is coming, even when I can’t see it.
Help me to trust You. Help me to keep praying, to keep believing, even in the places where it feels hardest. Amen.
SOTM Devotional 4: Where Do You Struggle to Believe God’s Will Can Be Done? was originally published in GoodLion Theology on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
