How to Pray “Thy Will Be Done” When God’s Answer Is Hard

“They Will Be Done”

These words have been more challenging for me to pray than I care to admit over the past couple of months. My insecurities have filled my mind with questions like:

“Why would God care to answer this prayer?”
“Why should I even pray when God will do what He is going to do anyway—and He is always right?”

Have you ever had thoughts like these? Surely I’m not alone in my questioning.

Not praying hurt more than praying and hearing “no.”

For a time, I found myself distancing from God. I had come to the faulty conclusion that if I didn’t ask for anything in my prayers, I wouldn’t be hurt when God didn’t answer the way I hoped.

Ironically, my attempt to protect myself from disappointment became far more painful than simply bringing my requests to Him.

Avoiding prayer didn’t guard my heart—it distanced me from the One who could actually heal it.

God meets us in our hurt

During this difficult season, when I was pulling away from God, He spoke truth into my life through a vivid picture.

In my mind, I saw a steep hill—almost like the exaggerated slopes in a Dr. Seuss book. At the bottom of the hill stood a small figure: me. I held the handle of a little red wagon. Inside the wagon was a large, heavy bag. I knew the bag was filled with my disappointments, frustrations, and ultimately, my sin.

At the top of the hill, I could barely make out a cross, but I knew that was where I would find rest and freedom. I needed to get there.

So I began the climb, pulling the wagon behind me. But the hill was so steep that I kept slipping. Every step forward seemed to slide two steps back. Exhausted and discouraged, I felt tempted to sit down at the bottom of the hill with my cart full of sin. It hurt there—but it felt easier than climbing.

Finally, as I gave the climb one more attempt, slipping and falling again, Jesus met me.

Instead of asking me to pull the wagon harder, He placed me in the wagon and pulled the entire heavy load up the hill Himself. I could never have made it there on my own. Soon I found myself at the top—resting at the foot of the cross.

Learning from Jesus

As I reflected on this picture, I didn’t quite know how to respond to the grace Jesus had shown me. I knew the right response was worship, but in that moment, I wasn’t sure what that looked like.

In the middle of my uncertainty, God brought this Scripture to mind:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
—Matthew 11:28–30

I was craving rest from my anxiety, and I knew Jesus was the only one who could give the kind of rest that truly satisfies the soul.

As I read the passage again and again, one phrase especially stood out to me: “learn from me.”

Jesus is the perfect teacher, and I needed to learn from Him in the middle of my heartache and disappointment.

• How did Jesus approach prayer in difficult moments?
• What did it look like for Him to submit to the Father?
• How did He continue to trust even when suffering was ahead?

Those questions led me to Hebrews 5:

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…”
—Hebrews 5:7–9

Submission in prayer

Jesus learned obedience through suffering.

In the garden of Gethsemane, knowing the unimaginable suffering He was about to endure, Jesus prayed:

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
—Matthew 26:39

Jesus knew suffering was coming. In His humanity, He asked the Father to take it away—knowing God had the power to do so.

But His obedience ultimately declared: “Thy will be done.”

These verses taught me something important: God didn’t refuse Jesus’ prayer because of a lack of faith. In fact, Hebrews says that Jesus was heard because of His reverent submission.

God always has a greater plan at work—one that we cannot fully see from our limited perspective.

Our role is not to understand every detail of the plan. Our role is to pray with both faith and submission, trusting the Father even when suffering remains.

A simple prayer

If you are learning to pray with faith and submission too, join me in this prayer:

Oh Jesus, help me live out these truths.
Help me not simply to believe them, but to offer my obedience as worship.
Align my will with Yours, and forgive me when it drifts away.
Ultimately, Lord—
not my will be done, but Yours.

Reflect and Connect