Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:7
My grandfather used to recite a little prayer at mealtimes. His sons, including my father, would also recite that same prayer when giving thanks for their food, although my father eventually abandoned it in favour of a more extemporary prayer. While I can no longer remember most of that prayer, I do recall one of its lines: ‘Bless this food to our use and us to Thy service’. I am sure you have heard the same expression, because it is to be found in the common prayers of many of the Christian denominations and organizations. What does it mean? We know that asking God to bless the food we are about to eat is a good thing, including making us to be thankful for it. But asking God to bless us to His service is something entirely different. Have you ever really thought about it? Have you ever sincerely prayed this little phrase, ‘Bless us to Thy service’? Or its more personal rendition, ‘Bless me to thy service’? It’s certainly not a natural thing for us to ask God’s blessing on our service to Him. In fact, it is impossible for those who are not truly Christians, not truly born again, not truly a child of God, to do any service for God. So for an unbeliever, that little prayer is hollow. But for a believer, it is full of meaning and expression. It might well be the prayer behind the words of the Lord Jesus in our text today.
There is no greater use of our time, our abilities, our very life, than in serving God, than in doing His bidding, than in doing His will. That is what our text is speaking about concerning the Lord Jesus. This is a recital of Psalm 40:7, which is a Messianic Psalm, speaking of the Lord Jesus. Yes, He came to do His Father’s will. Everything that He did was in full accordance with His Father’s will. How different He was from us. Even as Christians, it is a struggle for us to always be doing our Father’s will. So we are thankful today that there was One Who has given to us a perfect example to follow. And we find that Example in the volume of the Book.
The entire Bible is about the Lord Jesus. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies, with illustrations, with shadows that point forward to Him. The New Testament contains the account of His life in quadruplicate, the account of the obedience of His followers to His commands, the guidance and advice of the epistle writers to urge us to be Christ-like, and the revelation of the ages to come when He will be all in all. But it is especially in the Gospels that we find the description of the Lord Jesus in His devotion to doing His Father’s will. For this reason, we urge young believers to read and re-read the Gospels. And it surely does us all good to read those wonderful books over and over. And as we do so, we ought to allow the volume of the Book to impress on our souls how fully the Lord Jesus fulfilled His Father’s will.
The Lord Jesus knew His Father’s will, did His Father’s will, and loved His Father’s will. We could do no greater than that as we ask God to bless us to His service. -Jim MacIntosh