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The Will of God

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 3, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 1.

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The Will of God

By J. S. Washburn

J. S. WASHBURN
It may seem to many that the will of God is a very hard, stern, cold, and disagreeable thing, and that to yield to that will is a very sad alternative. Jesus, in Gethsemane, with the blood-drops dripping from his face, said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The will of God meant Calvary, the cross, the agony, but remember, beyond that the rent tomb, the resurrection, the glorious ascension with the trophies of the conflict, the opening of the glittering gates of the holy city that the triumphant train might enter in, and beyond that forever the comforting, the blessing, the lifting up of poor, broken-hearted sinners, the final resurrection day, the glorious eternal triumph.
God’s will is a blessed will. In it is hope, comfort, life everlasting. Just for a little time the cross, the pain; but even then, in the sad “now” his grace is sufficient. When the Holy Spirit is received, one marked change that will come into the lives of every one will be that the will of God, the blessed, holy, mighty will, takes the place of our weak, broken will, or rather, I may say, is interwoven with ours, and the mighty, unyielding, conquering will of God brings us victory and eternal hope.
Poor, broken soul, with hopes crushed, with will power fallen, when you have submitted to God, and have surrendered your will to him, he will give you a new will, his will, and with the hope there will be the determination to conquer, to overcome, to win, and not to fail where you have failed a thousand times before. “I will do God’s will.” “If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching.”
When the will is surrendered, the man is surrendered, the heart is surrendered. The surrender is complete; and as Jesus said, “For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall never be ashamed” (Isa. 50:7), so may we, with a new spring of divine energy within and a determination that can not be overthrown, say with him, I have “set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
It is the will of God that none should perish. That will, when permitted to be interwoven with ours, will not permit us to fail. The will of God is good. It is almighty. May his will be done in us, as it is in heaven.
“Renew my will from day to day; Blend it with thine, and take away All that now makes it hard to say, ‘Thy will be done.’”
Nashville, Tenn.