"Thy will", not "my will"

The author of Saturday's ODB piece, Julie Ackerman Link, writes about a very important subject - the misuse of the words of the Lord. To twist and bend the word of the Lord to achieve our own ends is sin unless somehow our selfish desires be in perfect alignment with those of the Lord.

We must rely on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and not our own wisdom to discern what God is saying to us through His written Word lest we stumble, or worse, cause another to stumble. As I dwelled on this matter a bit, I was reminded of a story told about Abraham Lincoln.

In 1864, portrait artist F.B. Carpenter spent considerable time with Lincoln, having been commissioned to paint a portrait of the President. He chronicled his time spent with Lincoln in an 1867 book, Six Months in the White House. Carpenter recalls an interesting encounter Lincoln had with a clergyman who visited the White House during that time:

No nobler reply ever fell from the lips of ruler, than that uttered by President Lincoln in response to the clergyman who ventured to say, in his presence, that he hoped " the LORD was on our side.". "I am not at all concerned about that," replied Mr. Lincoln, " for I know that the LORD is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the LORD'S side."

Wise words from a wise man.