Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Romans 12 and verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that she presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
That she may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
But to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man.
The measure of faith and I'd also like to quote another verse where the Lord Jesus said.
The good pleasure of Thy will, O God, is my delight. With on my heart this afternoon, dear young people, to talk of the importance and the blessedness of acknowledging the will of God in our whole life. I believe that the reason for the fall was that Adam and Eve sought their own will in independence of God.
Indeed, we might say that that's the root cause of all sin. Sin is lawlessness.
It is the practice of our own will, independently of God, but the source of all blessing is the heart and the will of God. This very universe in which we live. We think of the One who made it all, the One who created everything, and how full it is of things that are for the happiness and good of man. It tells us, when the things were made, that God's delights were with the sons of men. Just think of how.
This is that when God created everything, He was thinking of you, dear young people.
He was thinking of your happiness. He wanted you to be blessed. And when Adam and Eve sinned and spoiled it, did that will change? Did God suddenly decide that He no longer had a will of blessing for man? All not at all. When sin came in, God only showed that His will was still to bless man, and He made a promise.
That there would be a Redeemer, he said. That the seed of the woman.
What bruised the serpent's had? And so he in due time God.
Send His only begotten Son into this world and the Lord Jesus.
Died on that cross of Calvary. What for all He died there to glorify God his Father.
But all dear young people, that we might be blessed, that we might be blessed. And every life that has begun in this world has begun for eternity. Your life is not just for time. Your life has begun when you start in this world for eternal existence.
If you resist that will, that seeks your good and your happiness and your blessing.
Why it's going to be to your eternal loss, but if you acknowledge that will.
You are going to prove, not only in eternity, but in your life here, how that God delights in your blessing and in your happiness, because God finds the satisfaction of His own heart in the blessing of His creature. How marvelous this is.
Well, the Lord Jesus came down into this world, and in his pathway. Did he ever do his own will? Never. He said, Not my will, but thine be done.
It tells us even Christ pleased not himself. Yes, the Lord Jesus was the perfect example of a dependent man walking here doing the will of God his Father. Now in our life and in the whole course of this world. It is contrary to this.
And where we read in Romans 12, it says be not conformed to this world.
Now I believe that sometimes we think of conformity to this world as being certain things, certain material things, that show that we have become conformed to this world. And in the measure this is true. But I believe that the thought in this passage is that conformity to the world is a principle in our lives that is contrary to the mind and will of God. And what is that?
To have such a good opinion of ourselves that we think that by our own life, by our own plans, by our own minds, we can bring about happiness for ourselves. Isn't this the attempt of the world today? Shutting out God, yet using the mind that God gave them and using the material things in the universe that God created?
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To find in this a solution to their problems and happiness for themselves.
Independently of the Creator. And you, dear young people, as you go to school, are continually exposed to this sort of thing.
And this is what conformity to the world is. And if you're not constantly watchful, you'll become taken up with the ideas that are set before you. You have the possibilities within you. This is a wonderful world. And if we develop it independently of God, we are going to find the ultimate. We're going to be able to bring in a Millennium of happiness for ourselves.
But men are trying very hard.
And there are some great philosophers and there are some great scientists, and men are working overtime to try and solve the questions of existence and to try and develop all the wonders of this creation and to enjoy them independently of God. Dear young people, this is the greatest mistake that you can make is to follow.
Course of this world and think that this is ultimately going to bring you happiness or joy.
It's not going to bring it to you even here, although I do recognize as the Bible says.
There are the pleasures of sin for a season. There is a temporary enjoyment in the indulgence of your own will and of your own lusts, but there's nothing abiding in it. The pleasures of sin are only for a season. The pleasures of sin are in the act and not in the consequences of the act. And so you see, as Satan is a deceiver, and he's trying to deceive you.
And this is the importance of God's Word. This is the importance of the Bible reading.
This is the importance of these meetings that we are having here, because we sit under a different kind of teaching than what we are constantly exposed to in school.
And in the educational systems of men, because we are approaching things from God's viewpoint, not man's, we're not trying to prove and that man has the capabilities in himself, but trying to show you by the health and grace of God that the blessing comes from God himself, the God who created everything, who made you, who made your body, who made this wonderful world.
You live cares about you and is interested in you.
And in this lovely epistle after the apostle Paul has.
By the Spirit of God opened up to us the wonderful truth of what God has done for us in our sins, meeting us in all our guilt, and then accomplishing redemption and bringing us into fellowship with Himself, explaining to us the full and blessed results of redemption.
So that we not only have our sins forgiven, we possess a new life. We are delivered from the law, we are delivered from the old nature that would drag us down. And we're given comfort in these bodies of affliction and we're promised a glorified body, and last of all, promised that nothing can separate us from his love. Well, he says, after a person has done that much for you, can't you be satisfied that they really?
Are seeking your good and can't you willingly and gladly give yourself over to your will?
That to their will, I should say. And there are boys and girls going together here in these meetings.
And there are two things that they want to be assured of before they're willing to give themselves to one another.
And what is it? Well, they want to be sure of love and they want to be sure of mutual respect. And if they don't feel that they have sufficient love for one another, why the thing breaks down? If they don't feel, if they have enough confidence in one another to commit their lives to one another, it breaks down. And if it goes ahead, there's sorrow afterwards. There has to be an understanding that there is a confidence in the person to whom you commit your life.
Now I want to ask you, can you have confidence in God and committing your life to Him?
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Can you be absolutely sure that if you yield your will over to God that He is going to seek your happiness and that He is going to want your blessing?
If there is a boyfriend that wants your attention and you are absolutely sure that all he is seeking is your happiness through the whole of your life and that he loves you with a perfect love and you can look to him with respect, it's not hard to fall in love. It's not hard to give yourself to a person like that. And dear young people, I want to tell you that God.
Is the one who is making a demand upon your heart.
And he doesn't do it without first telling you what he has done for you. He tells you in the beginning of this lovely epistle all that he has done for you. And then isn't this beautiful? He says Here I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that she presents your bodies a living sacrifice. Don't wait until you're an old person.
That's too late.
Not that God doesn't accept those who are older, but why not?
Give your life when you're young. Why not while you're still in your youth? Be willing to acknowledge the Lord's claims. If you say, well, I'll wait until I'm about 40 years of age and I've had my fun of youth and then I'll do it. You're practically saying I don't believe that God's able to make a young person happy. I don't believe that his will is really for my happiness. It's my own will that brings happiness when I'm young, but it's true when I get into.
Then perhaps God can help me. Oh, that's a great mistake.
God is interested in you from the very time that you were born of, the little hymn says Air. Knew my infant heart to move thy tender mercies still pursued. Yes, he's interested in you. Indeed, if you're one of his own, you can say that before you were born you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Well, and it tells us to present our bodies.
That is, give yourself up to the Lord, all dear young people.
Are you willing to give yourself up to the Lord? Or are you saying, well, I'm willing to let him save my soul, but I'm not quite willing to let him take control of my life? I'm willing to make him happen. He I'm willing to let him make me happy for eternity, but I'm not sure that I can count on him to make me happy here in this world. That's practically what you're saying if you're unwilling to yield your life to him now while you're young.
So here it tells us a living sacrifice, holy.
Acceptable under God, which is your intelligence service and be not conformed to this world.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then in the third verse.
Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, I want to say to you that this.
This conformity to the world has to do with your mind. It has to do with your thinking. Why do you follow after the pleasures of the world and independence of God? Well, I can tell you very simply because you don't believe that the real happiness is in following Christ. So you have decided that.
It's your own mind and your own intelligence and through man's schemes in this world that you're going to ultimately find happiness.
And what we need and what this Scripture is telling us that we need the renewing of the mind and to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That is when you're willing to yield yourself to God, present your body to him, and to look up into the face of the Savior who loved you and say, well, I don't really have.
A will of my own in this matter. I want to do thy will then and not till then. Have you found the way a real blessing and happiness in your life. Otherwise you're just following the course of this world. For the man of the world, his whole life centers around himself. Even when he does a kindness, he does it for the good feeling that he gets. He does it for the.
He receives, but not until one is set free from himself can he be brought into a place, shall I say, where his will is yielded to do the will of God. Now I want to recognize here at this point that there are many who have perhaps different thoughts as to what is the will of God in certain matters in life.
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I'm sure that as you have talked to other young people and older ones.
Some have said, well, I don't think it's the will of God, you should do this. And you have said, well, I, I haven't seen that yet. I'm not sure. Well, I believe that God always leaves room for growth. And I believe that we haven't all made the same progress in the things of God.
And the apostle John, wisely, when addressing the family of God, he addressed babes and young men and fathers. And I don't expect that those who were younger are going to have the same knowledge of the will of God as those who were older, but you can have the same willingness to do the will of God.
You can have exactly the same willingness to do the will of God as someone who is much older.
And so I'm not going to say to you that if you do a certain 10 things.
You've done the will of God, and if you don't do them, you haven't. I'm going to ask you rather, instead, do you really in your heart recognize the truth of what we have been saying and what God's Word says, that the will of God is the way of blessing and the few are willing at this very moment to say, well, there are a lot of things I don't see exactly the same.
As some of the older brethren.
But I can honestly say from my heart that I do want to please the Lord, I do want to do the will of God, I do want to let Him plan my life, and I want to recognize His claims over me and everything. Well, dear young people, if you take that stand, the Lord will teach you. It says very plainly, if any man will do his will.
He shall know of the doctrine.
And another verse tells us that.
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he.
Shall direct thy paths. And so that's what I would like to bring before you this afternoon. And that is, are you desirous to do his will? And notice what it says, that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It's good because.
It's from a heart that seeks your good and happiness and has proved His love to you in giving His Son to die for you. And it's acceptable because all who have sought to walk in this path have found it to be the path of blessing and happiness.
Perhaps you say, well, I know some Christians that have seemed to walk in the straight and narrow way and.
And they don't seem to be happy and they're not really finding happiness, but.
You can walk according to certain rules and not find happiness at all.
Paul was trying to live up to the law and he didn't find any happiness. Why? He didn't have Christ before him, he didn't even know him. And it's quite possible for a young person to have certain outward things before them instead of having the Lord Jesus Christ as a person before your heart.
And that's what I want to ask you to your young people. I want to ask my own heart, is the Lord Jesus Christ a person before the soul? I don't believe that there is a young person who really has the Lord Jesus before his soul who would not say, well, I believe and I have proved that that is happiness to have my eye upon him and to follow him.
And so it's the acceptable, it's the perfect will of God.
I might ask my children to do certain things, I might have certain thoughts for them, but I could easily make mistakes, and I do. My will is far from perfect, but the will of God is perfect. Never, never, never will the Lord ask you to do something that isn't the very best thing for you.
Because His will is perfect, and we prove it as we walk in it. And so the very first thing in conformity to the world is.
To have too good an opinion of yourself. The thing in conformity to Christ is.
To be willing to take your place as nothing and to acknowledge that his will is everything. It was read to us this morning by her brother and Isaiah chapter 66. And to this man will I look to him that is of a contrite spirit and that trembles at my word. One who takes the low place, who says, well, if God speaks, I want to do his will. That's the one.
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Whom the Lord looks, that's the one whom he desires to bless. Well, you might say. And does that mean you'll have a trouble free life? Oh, not at all, not at all. Some of the nicest hymns that we have in our book were written by people whose life was full of trouble. ***** Crosby, as some of us know, was blind, but she wrote some of the beautiful hymns.
Did she consider that because God allowed her to become blind?
That then he had blighted her life? Not at all. She recognized that this had been allowed so that she might show the triumph of His grace over circumstances. And she wrote that lovely hymn that is so known to us.
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. Oh how lovely to see in these hymns, ones who have been in trial.
Did Paul have a trouble free life? No, the Lord said, I'll show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. But did he have a happy life? Oh indeed he did. Indeed he did. He had a happy life because he took all his circumstances, even the thorn in the flesh, as from the Lord.
And because the Lord gives you a set back in your Christian life does not mean that he is against you.
He is just showing you that the things that you thought were necessary for your happiness were not necessary, but He was the all sufficient one, able to fill and satisfy your heart and to bless you and to use you. And the most precious ministry of Paul was written from inside the prison.
The most precious hymns were written by those who were in trial and if.
Read at times, perhaps something about the story of our hymns. It must surprise you to see that the beautiful hymns that you've really enjoyed were written by people who were put in very, very difficult spots, very definite trials. But the Lord was sufficient, and they triumphed in them. Now I'd like to just read a few different passages.
And show how that God brings us to a point in our lives.
Where there is a definite challenge, shall I say, as to whether we are going to do His will.
And I'd like to look at several, first of all in Judges chapter 6.
Judges chapter 6 and verse 25. And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young Bullock, even the second Bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of bail that thy father hath, and cut down the Grove that is by it.
And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place, And take the second Bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the Grove, which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him. Well, here we find a young man.
And he said his family was poor in Manasseh and he was the least of his father's house.
His father was a worshiper of Baal. His father had built an altar to Baal.
And now a great challenge came in his life. At this point, I'd like to bring before you.
Dear young people, I believe that there comes a time in our lives where there are special challenges, special things come before us, great decisions are made that may affect our lives for years to come and I believe these are very, very solemn occasions. I would like to speak of this one as a young man as to whether he was going to be controlled by.
His father's worship, who was an idolater and whether he was going to go on with that or whether he was going to.
Acknowledge the Lord's claims and do the will of God. His father, as I say, was a worshiper of Baal, and he could have said, well, you know, my father is a worshipper of Bail. So I'm the same. I just go along. It's the easiest way. If you go against things at home, it's pretty difficult. But we find that a definite challenge in this young man's life. And the challenge was whether he was going to throw down.
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Altered to Baal and acknowledge the Lord's claims and his follower from that time forward. All this was a very serious thing, and it may be there are young people who have come to this meeting this afternoon, and perhaps there are strong influences in your home and among your loved ones to draw you away from wholeheartedly following the Lord.
It's not easy to take a stand, to try to please the Lord in such things, is it?
Thank God if you have a Christian father and mother who encourages you. But Gideon didn't. And when Gideon had to do this, it was a very difficult thing for him to take that stand. But here we find that Gideon didn't delay when the Lord appeared to him and said to throw down that altar and to build an altar to the Lord in the ordered place.
To do what God would have him to do, to acknowledge God in his life, in his home life.
And in his worship we find that he did it that same night. There was number delay.
As though he looked up and said, Lord, I desire to do thy will.
Now, it wasn't easy for him. Perhaps some might say he did it in a rather cowardly way, doing it at night.
And that he didn't do it alone. He had some help. Well, all these things we freely admit.
And there are often mistakes in the very best things that we do. But the important thing was.
He did it. He did it from that that moment the order of bail was thrown down, the altar was built to Jehovah in the appointed place, the sacrifice was offered. And we all know the happy sequel in the life of Gideon, how he was used of God and blessed of God for the deliverance of Israel. But this was a particular moment that came in his life, a challenge, a decision.
And this decision was made in the right way. And dear young people.
Many of you, and I love to see you here. You come to these meetings. Perhaps some of you are kind of sitting on the fence. Perhaps it's just a matter of a very small thing that would cause you to turn into the world or cause you to follow the Lord and all. How I do desire that as the result of these meetings, you'd throw down the order to bail, that you'd live for the Lord, that you would desire to do His will.
In your life cost what it may, and you'll find in that path that there is the joy of the Lord, the blessing of the Lord. It maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. So perhaps we could speak of the case of Gideon as a question of acknowledging the Lord above all home ties and in connection with worship.
And Gideon, by the grace of God, did this.
And did what was pleasing to the Lord. He did the will of God.
He did not choose the easy path. He did not go along with what had been his course before and been a worshipper of bail. He now was a servant of the Lord. Now perhaps we could turn to another one in Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter three in the tenth verse. Come now, therefore I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of.
Out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, certainly I will be with thee. Well, here was a call to do a service to the Lord. Here was a call, I say, that this young man, he had spent a great many years of his life being educated in Egypt.
He had become discouraged because his brethren hadn't appreciated his desire. And for 40 years he had gone back into the desert and kept sheep. And there might be a young person here and you might say, well, I did want to please the Lord, but you know, nobody understands me. And when I try to please the Lord, people find fault with me.
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Well, Moses that had just exactly that experience and it hurt him and he turned back and for 40 years.
He was in the backside of the desert, but that was all necessary schooling for him.
And even the criticisms that we get are allowed of God. They're for our good and for our blessing. They're part of God's training with us. If Moses had gone after he graduated from the schools of Egypt, when he was mighty in words and deeds, he would have been very proud. He would never have been able to go on with a failing people. But in the school of God, he became emptied of himself. He became so emptied of himself that.
He even said that he couldn't speak and he said, who am I that thou should have sent me?
Before he had tried to do it in his own energy, and the Lord said certainly.
I will be with thee older young person here, and perhaps the Lord.
He's laying some little work on your heart and you say, oh, I can't do it, and nobody would appreciate it if I did do it.
Oh, how wonderful these words. Certainly I will be with thee.
Certainly I will be with thee all in your service for the Lord.
And what you try to do for him, what a sweet thing to have the sense in your soul.
That the Lord is with you. This was a distinct moment in the life of Moses. And Moses made this grand, this fine decision that he would go forth and the rest of his life, the last 40 years of his life, he spent it among the failing people of God. He wasn't always appreciated, that's true, But he loved the Lord, He loved his people, and he sought to do not his own will.
But the will of God, as it tells us in Hebrews, he gave up all that might have been his as a great man in Egypt to become useful. It says he, he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. For a season, though, I ask you to your young people, are you willing to identify yourself with a failing, grumbling, complaining, false finding?
Of God, yes, you'll find this. Probably you'll find in your own heart. I do.
But are you willing to identify yourself with them? And, well, it's the path that Moses chose here.
A challenge came and from this moment he was number longer going to be a shepherd on the backside of the desert. He was number longer going to be a great man in Egypt.
He was going to be a servant among the people of God seeking their good and their blessing. Well, there's another one. I won't take time to turn to it. And that was the case of of Joseph. Joseph, we know, was sold out into Egypt and they're in Egypt. He was placed in the House of Potiphar and it was a very, very great temptation presented itself in his life.
Now there was a woman there who tried to lead him into a sinful path.
And this would have changed the whole life of Moses, if he had yielded to this.
I believe it would have spoiled his usefulness, but we find that, Moses said.
How should I do this great wickedness and sin against God? All dear young people, as I look into your faces, there's many temptations. The moral breakdown of the world is terrific today, and you can ruin your whole life by yielding to this temptation, particularly in the line of sex in these days.
Oh, I plead with you young people. Satan wants to ruin your life.
He wants to spoil it. He doesn't want you to be useful. And there can be a blight brought in your life that may spoil it for the rest of your time. Not that God cannot restore. Not that he can't bless you. Not that he can't come in and fill your heart even after you've failed. He restoreth my soul. But I believe that things can happen in a Christian's life that can spoil his usefulness for years to come.
And how nice it is when this challenge came in, All in all its thoughtfulness. And it wasn't through any planning on the part of wasn't through any planning on the part of the Joseph that he was in that house. But it was a circumstance that arose, an unexpected one. And he was faithful. Why? Because he wanted to do the will of God. He said, how should I do this great wickedness and sin?
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Against God, all dear young people, May God keep you pure. As Paul said to Timothy, keep thyself pure. And in these days we need this, that we might be preserved so that we would go on for the Lorde glory. Well, and there's another one that I'd like to turn to, and this is in Judges.
Chapter one judges chapter one and verse 12 and Caleb said he that smite of Kerja Seifer and taketh it to him. Will I give acts of my daughter to wife and Osteo the son of Kenas Caleb younger brother took it and he gave him AXA his daughter to wife. Well, it was just particularly the first part.
And I wanted to call your attention to the fact that this.
Name Kurja Seifer means the city of books, the city of books. Now, I believe this is another thing that challenges us as young people today. As you go to school, you're required to do a great deal of reading. And the bookshelves everywhere filled with all kinds of reading, interesting things, things in connection with what is going on in the world.
We're leading, we're living in an age where.
There is what King Solomon said of the making of books. There is no end. And young people are doing a lot of reading. And I'm not here to say whether it's necessary what you're doing or not. I leave that between you and the Lord. But I want to ask you, are you like Caleb? He overcame Kerja Seifer, the city of books.
That is, he didn't allow books to ruin his life. He overcame.
And, you know, there's a lot of young people, they do a lot of reading of things that.
Really do a lot of harm in their Christian life and pervert their Christian thinking.
I believe that we need to remember that this kerja means the City of Books.
And here we find a very lovely thing this young man overcame Kerja's sea for, and he got a Good Wife. And no wonder he was blessed. He became the first judge in Israel. Yes, and dear young people, in this time when there are so many books around, may the Lord keep you, may He give you the grace to overcome the city of books. And it tells us that the name of the city was afterwards called.
Mentions this in the 11Th verse. The name of the city was afterwards called Dieber, which means Oracle.
In other words, he read books to no end, but he placed confidence in the oracles, the word of God.
And this, I trust, will be true in your life, that with all the reading and much of it is necessary in your educational life today, that you will always keep the word of God on top. You'll always give it the best, the most important place. Because unless you do, all these things are going to affect you. And you'll become conformed to the world in your thinking if you're not careful.
To prove all things, to test what you hear.
By the word of God.
And I'd just like to turn to a little verse in Genesis chapter 2 and the 18th verse. And the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will and help meet for him. Here's one man that had nothing to do with choosing his wife. It says the Lord.
The Lord made this remark, He said I will make.
And help meet for him. He didn't have anything to do with his will.
It was completely the will of God that provided a help meet for Adam. And this I'd like to bring before you to in connection with this great decision in your life. I know that we need to be guided intelligently by the Word of God. I know that there is much helpful instruction in the word of God in connection with these things.
But we can each ask ourselves, dear young people.
Do we want to help meet that the Lord can say I.
Chose that helped meet for you. I chose that help meet for you.
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And I ask you, dear young people, as you seek to make these plans in life, not to forget this and that as you look to the Lord and seek His guidance and His will, that you will always bear this in mind, that the Lord is the only one who can bring the right help meet into your life and the girl whom you marry.
Or the boy whom the girl marries is going to make a change in your whole life.
Because the wife is the completion of the man. And so there's two that are made one and if you get the right one, it's going to be for your blessing and happiness and you can together follow the Lord. If not, it can be the ruination of your life.
But God is interested in this, the very beginning of things.
God said I will make a help meet for him. How lovely was God Himself that have provided this one for Adam and God himself can provide one for you. She wasn't perfect. No, we find afterwards she wasn't. Don't look for perfection. We're not perfect ourselves, any of us, but we can have the consciousness that the Lord has guided. The Lord has directed our lives and He wants to do that.
And so now I'd just like to quote that verse in Philippians chapter one in closing.
Where the beloved apostle Paul could say this to me to live is Christ. That is, he had learned in his life that the path of blessing and happiness was not his own will, but to have Christ before him, to follow the will of God in his life. And all I wish to say to you again to your young people.
Are you willing at this very moment?
To commit your life to the Lord. As I say, these challenges arise in our life from time to time. There may be a challenge as to throwing down an altar. There may be a challenge as to what service we would do. There may be a challenge as to choosing a wife. There may be a challenge as to our business. There are many different things that come up in life.
Definite decisions that are made and if first of all we have been before the Lord.
And we have recognized that He loves us and that His will is for our blessing.
Then when we approach these problems, when we approach these decisions now, there is a reason why we decide as we do, and that is because we do not want our own will, but His will. May we have grace to look to the Lord and say, not my will, but thine be done. The Lord will give us grace for all the circumstances. That may not be a smooth path, but.
Useful path. It can be a successful path, a happy path, if you and I put the Lord Jesus first. He loves you, He wants to bless you. He made you that you might prove all the blessing that's in his heart for you. And he'll not be satisfied until each one of his own is supremely blessed. And it won't be in your will and mine, but in His will.
That that eternal happiness will be our portion.
May we seek His will even now.