We have to learn to get out of the Lord's way and freely choose to allow him to work in whatever way he desires in our life. Too often we resist the Lord by telling him what we think is best for us and what his will for us should be. In these moments, we are attempting to assert our control in the situation, rather than trust in the Lord's plan. While we say externally the words, "Lord, your will be done", internally we are choosing to act in a way that is reflective of our self-will. It was easy for the Israelites to say in the desert after hearing the commandments of God, "We will do all that the Lord commands." But when it came time to follow through on their word, they did not. Instead they chose what they wanted to do--they complained, they made themselves a golden cow to worship as their god, they did not heed the words of the Lord in battle, they did not trust the Lord. As a result they wandered in the desert for forty years, instead of experiencing the full life of the promises.

We have the same problem. We pray in the Our Father, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven." But our actions many times indicate "my kingdom come and my will be done." As a result we do not grow in the life of the Spirit, but seem to go around the same desert. As it wasn't until they learned no longer to resist the Lord did they enter the land flowing with milk and honey, so it will be with us. Until we learn to surrender the independent, selfish exercise of our will and bring it consciously and freely in harmony with the will of God, we too will continue in the drudgery of our own desert track. The spiritual land flowing with milk and honey awaits us, but something must die first. That something is our need to be in total control and the lack of trust in God's plan for us.