Unfulfilled Desires and Submission to God’s Will - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2026

Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will.
Matthew 11:26 ?s?

Unfulfilled Desires and Submission to God’s Will
Jesus Christ had desires and wishes here on earth which—although they were good and right—were not fulfilled. For example, He had to say about Jerusalem, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Lk. 13:34). When He was lonely and forsaken, He lamented, “I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none” (Ps. 69:20). Moreover, during His public ministry, He longed to see fruits from His labor. Yet in the book of Isaiah He prophetically says, “I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity” (Isa. 49:4).

Against this background, it is all the more remarkable that the Lord praised the Father for His wisdom precisely at the time of His rejection, when—humanly speaking—He could have been discouraged. Without dissatisfaction in His heart, He said with gentleness, “Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will.” How do you deal with disappointments that suddenly come your way? How do you react when your desires or plans are suddenly thwarted? Sometimes God allows moments when some of our projects can no longer be accomplished.

Maybe you wanted to attend an event you were looking forward to that had to be canceled. How do you deal with this? Can you also accept such situations with meekness from the hand of God and say, “Yes, Father,” without bitterness? The prophet Amos once said, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?” (Amos 3:6). God does not make mistakes, even if we do not always understand His actions towards us.

You honor God when you acknowledge Him behind the circumstances and meekly accept disappointment, opposition, or hostility from His hand.

Philip Svetlik