THE path of obedience is the path of blessing. This is the great lesson emphasized in the life of Icing Jehoshaphat. Disobedience always results in sorrow and disappointment. Yet how slowly we learn these things, simple and so often demonstrated as they are? What can be more foolish than to suppose that we, poor finite creatures of a day, are capable of ruling ourselves and finding lasting happiness in acting in accordance with our own unrestrained impulses, rather than by yielding ourselves unto God to do His will and be controlled and directed by Him as He has revealed His mind to us in His holy Word? It is His love for us that leads Him to give us suited instruction for a safe way through this scene. Our greatest wisdom is manifested in surrendering ourselves wholly to Him, in order that He may be glorified in and through us.
“His will be done,” we say with sighs and trembling,
Expecting trial, bitter toss and tears;
And then how doth He answer us with blessings
In sweet rebuking of our faithless fears.
God’s will is peace and plenty and the power
To be and have the best that He can give,
A mind to serve Him and a heart to love Him,
The faith to die with and the strength to live.
It means for us all good, all grace, all glory,
His kingdom coming and on earth begun,
Why should we fear to say; “His will—His righteous,
His tender, loving, joyous will—be done?”
—Annie Johnson Flint.