Our Master taught us to pray, "Thy will be done," and he declared that whosoever did God's will was his "brother, and sister, and mother." On the other hand, the Bible, throughout the Old Testament and the New, is strong in its reprobation of the human will. "I seek not mine own will," said Jesus. It is therefore of supreme importance that we should study to distinguish between the divine and the human will, in order that we may obey the one and reject the other. This study is all the more necessary because on the surface these two opposites may sometimes appear not dissimilar. Ahab, who, in spite of the inspired warning, persisted in seeking battle with the Syrians, and David, who, undeterred by the discouraging suggestions, went forth to meet Goliath, may both seem at first sight to have manifested the same resolute will, though their motives were as far apart as obstinacy and understanding.
Failing to understand the nature of the divine will, mankind has adopted towards it a resigned and almost fatalistic attitude. This attitude is traceable to a personal sense of God, which results in a misconception of the divine will as being like an aggrandized and irresistible human will. An escape from this circumscribed view is furnished by the word "Principle," which is used by Mary Baker Eddy as a synonym for God, thereby removing the concept of Deity altogether from the plane of human personality. Thus, if we think of the will of Principle, we at once gain an insight into the nature of the divine will as something wholly apart from human or personal volition.
The conduct of two individuals, one of whom is actuated by human will, while the other is obedient to the will of Principle, may be likened to that of two persons, one a navigator, who understands the compass, while the other is ignorant of it. The former may be a man of feeble will, judged by human standards, yet he may have no difficulty in holding his course in a fog; while the latter, though considered resolute of character, if he attempted to steer a ship, might fall into uncertainty or be influenced by erroneous counsels.
