I do not know thy final will,
It is too good for me to know.
Thou willest that I mercy show,
That I take heed and do no ill,
That I the needy warm and fill,
Nor stones at any sinner throw;
But I know not thy final will,
It is too good for me to know.
I know thy love unspeakable--
For love's sake able to send woe!
To find thine own thou lost didst go,
And wouldst for men thy blood yet spill!
How should I know thy final will,
Godwise too good for me to know!
--George Macdonald.
One prayer I have--all prayers in one--
When I am wholly thine:
Thy will, my God, thy will be done,
And let that will be mine;
All-wise, almighty, and all-good,
In thee I firmly trust,
Thy ways, unknown or understood,
Are merciful and just.
Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;
Make you his service your delight,
He'll make your wants his care.
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.
It is Lucifer,
The son of mystery;
And since God suffers him to be
He, too, is God's minister,
And labors for some good
By us not understood!
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Rabbi Jehosha had the skill
To know that heaven is in God's will.
--James Russell Lowell.