Last week, I heard this song in church and was struck by these words:

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

The words are beautiful, aren’t they? And when you hear them in song format, it’s easy to let them go in one ear and out the other. But this phrase jumped out and hit me: “My will be lost in thine.”

My will lost in God’s will?
What does that mean?

You lost your keys. Are they in your overstuffed purse? Maybe your child hid them under the couch? Or perhaps you left them in the ignition? (Of course, I’m not speaking from personal experience in any of these stories. Maybe.)

To oversimplify the matter: if something is lost, you can’t find it.

So if my will is lost in God’s will, then it is indistinguishable from His. There’s no difference.
My desire is for God’s desire to be accomplished.
My joy is complete when His glory shines in and through me.

But what does that look like?

Do you know what it looks like when my will is lost in God’s will?
It looks like work.
It looks like sacrifice and pain.
Most of all, it looks like death. Death to what I want and what makes me most comfortable. Life to God’s plans and what brings Him the most glory.

And while the phrase “my will lost in Thine” sounds nice, sometimes it looks like fighting. An internal struggle (that often manifests itself outwardly) where I am forced to decide whose kingdom I am going to build – God’s or mine.

The Best Part

The best part of all this? Although “my will lost in Thine” looks like death, it results in life. Life that is fuller than you could ever plan. Joy that never comes to an end. Perfect peace with zero disturbance.

Sometimes the idea of serving God sounds more romantic when heard in song. I think it’s helpful to think through lyrics in this way because it brings the issue down to where I actually live. I can look back at the past week – okay, fine, the past hour – and see specific decisions in which my will was definitely not lost in God’s will. Where I chose to build my earthly kingdom of selfishness instead of God’s kingdom of perfection. And I can also look at the past week and see God’s evident grace as I fought hard for my own way, but finally surrendered to His. All glory to God for spiritual victories.

I trust this season of your life will be full of moments where your will is indistinguishable from God’s will.
Where your will is completely and utterly lost in His.