April 28

Harmony in the will of God

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Suppose the members of our bodies, instead of being controlled by the will of the head, had each a separate, independent will of its own. Would they not, in this case, become useless, and even mischievous?
Something like this, you are sensible, occasionally takes place. In certain diseases the members seem to escape from the control of the will and act as if they were governed by a separate will of their own.
When this is the case, terrible consequences often ensue. The teeth shut suddenly and violently and lacerate the tongue; the elevated hands beat the face and other parts of the body; the feet refuse to support it, and it rolls in the dust, a melancholy and frightful spectacle. Such effects we call convulsions.


There are convulsions in the moral as well as in the natural world, and they take place when the will of man refuses to be controlled by the will of God. Did all men submit cordially to His will, they would live together in love and harmony and, like members of a healthy body, would all promote each other’s welfare and that of the whole system. But they have refused to obey His will and have set up their own wills in opposition to it; and what has been the consequence?
Convulsions, most terrible convulsions, which have, in ten thousand thousand instances, led one member of this great body to injure another, and not only disturbed but almost destroyed the peace of society. What are wars, insurrections, revolutions? What are robberies, piracies, murders, but convulsions in the moral world—convulsions which never would have occurred had not the will of man refused to submit to the will of God.
And never will these convulsions cease, never will universal love and peace and happiness prevail, until the rebellious will of man shall again submit to the controlling will of God, and His will shall be done in earth as it is in Heaven.
—Edward Payson.

The best will is our Father’s will,
And we may rest there calm and still;
O make it hour by hour thine own,
And wish for naught but that alone
Which pleases God.
—Paul Gerhardt.

“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).

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