There are approximately 2.4 billion people in the world who profess the name of Jesus. On any given day, who knows how many of them pray the familiar words, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, NIV)?

Over the centuries, the Lord’s Prayer has been prayed trillions of times by billions of people.

Which raises an obvious question: If God answers prayer, why hasn’t His Kingdom come and His will been done?

Actually, His Kingdom has come. And yet we are still waiting for it to come in all its fullness. To understand that, we need to know something about the Kingdom Jesus was talking about.

Centuries before Jesus was born, God made David an extraordinary promise: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16, NIV).

But David died. Israel’s kingdom fractured. The people were conquered and carried into exile. Eventually they returned to their land, but they lived under the domination of foreign powers.

Still, they waited for the promised King.

Then the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said of the Son she would bear: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David … his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32b–33, NIV).

At last, the King had arrived.

Jesus later stood before Pilate and acknowledged that He is, indeed, a king. And Paul tells us that God has already “brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13b, NIV).

So when Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come,” He is not merely teaching us to wait for heaven. The Kingdom has already come—in Jesus.

But it has not yet come in its fullness. We live between the already and the not yet. And between the already and the not yet is right now. That means this prayer is about what God wants to do in us and through us today.

Sometimes we pray it with joy. Life is good. Our family is doing well. The surgery went well. The diagnosis came back negative. We are experiencing the goodness of God’s Kingdom and want others to experience it too.

Sometimes we pray it with longing. God, I want my life to count. I want to make a difference. I want to become fully alive.

And sometimes we pray it with an ache.

Maybe life right now feels like clinging to a raft in a vast ocean while ferocious waves toss you back and forth. Father, let Your Kingdom come here. Let Your will be done in this marriage, this illness, this family, this decision, this life.

But notice what Jesus does not teach us to pray: My kingdom come. My will be done.

Instead, He teaches us to surrender our kingdoms to His. It is Your kingdom I crave, not mine. And Your will, not mine.

That prayer creates something I believe every follower of Jesus should have: a holy discontent.

We should never be completely satisfied with a world where people don’t love God, neighbors don’t love each other, marriages fracture, families struggle, injustice persists, and people live without knowing Christ.

Years ago, I was lamenting to some of our Bible study leaders that I couldn’t seem to become satisfied with what God had already allowed me to accomplish. Why couldn’t I just be content?

After listening to me for a while, one of the leaders said, “So basically what you’re trying to describe is the concept of a satisfied evangelist.” Exactly.

There is a dissatisfaction that comes from ego and ambition. But there is another kind of dissatisfaction that comes from seeing the difference between the world as it is and the world as God intends it to be. That is holy discontent.

• We hunger to love God more deeply.
• We hunger to love our neighbors more faithfully.
• We hunger to do our work as unto the Lord, because the work itself is ministry.
• We hunger to see our families flourish.
• We hunger to see people come to Jesus.

And here is one of the beautiful tensions in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches us to have holy discontent about His Kingdom: “Your kingdom come.” Then, in the very next sentence, He teaches us to have contentment about ourselves: “Give us today our daily bread.”

Holy discontent for His Kingdom. Daily contentment for ourselves.

So when we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” we are not asking God merely to make our lives turn out the way we want.

We are saying: It is Your Kingdom I crave, not mine. And Your will, not mine.

Always on your side,

Pat

For Reflection and Discussion

• Heart (Reflect): Where are you already experiencing God’s Kingdom in your life in a way that brings you joy or gratitude?
• Head (Understand): What does it mean that God’s Kingdom has already come in Jesus, but has not yet come in its fullness? How does that help you understand the prayer, “Your kingdom come”?
• Hands (Apply): Where do you feel a holy discontent because something is not yet as God intends it to be? What could you do this week to participate in His Kingdom coming and His will being done there?

Want to go deeper?

Watch the complete Man Alive Bible Study that inspired today’s Weekly Wisdom on YouTube, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.