I ran across a phrase in a Puritan prayer that made me pause. It reads, “Help me to see how good thy will is in all, and even when it crosses mine teach me to be pleased with it.” My immediate reaction was somewhere between “ouch!” and “how humble a contrite heart like that would be.” Even as I write these words, my soul makes me pause. First, I pause at the strength of the biblical character of the words. Second, I pause because I still wonder where I am each day in my measure of obedience to God’s will. I am caught off guard to a certain extent with Paul’s admonition to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and David’s encouragement to delight myself in the Lord and He will give me the desires of my heart. Yes, I realize that there are contextual considerations with each verse. But my mind and will sometimes race between these two biblical bases. I feel as if I am in a run down with the Divine Triunity in determining which base is “safe” at the moment. Our Puritan friends remind me though that God’s will is good and something with which I should be pleased. I’ve never really thought of God’s will being anything but good, but to actually stop and consider that that is what God wants for me…it is staggeringly wonderful! The other shoe falls when my will crosses His will and I need to remember who gets the yield sign at such an intersection. At this point I need to think very clearly and quite carefully. If I stop and yield long enough, I give my thoughts an opportunity to be purged by the Spirit of God. And what the Spirit of God desires is for me to delight in the Lord. If I recognize the goodness of His desire, than His will becomes my will and my desire will reflect His will. It’s really a win-win situation. Why is it then that my heart still wants to consult with itself first before I consult with the Lord about His will for my life? I’ve come to realize that the treadmill that I find myself peddling is the treadmill of my own making. When I surrender to God’s will first and foremost (Matthew 6:33) each choice and path of my Christian journey is good and pleasing to my soul; because, God is not in the business of making treadmills for His children. Treadmills are our own ridiculous devices upon which we make zero progress in our walk with the Lord.