Elias Aslaksen can perhaps best be described as a “spiritual giant,” and as a servant of the Lord of great stature. As a young man, he was gripped by God and by a living faith in a victorious life. He gave up a promising career as an officer in the Navy in order to devote his whole life to serving Jesus, his Lord and Master. He chose to live in very simple circumstances and became one of the 20th century’s greatest laborers in the Lord’s vineyard, and a shining example of living in faith in the almighty God and His transforming power.
Aslaksen’s life and ministry strongly remind us of what Paul said about himself: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Cor. 15:10. It is as if Paul corrected his own statement: he had indeed labored more than they all, but it was truly only the grace of God which was with him that had worked, both in him and through his ministry.
The Way You React Determines Your Happiness or Unhappiness
This song is a deeply personal testimony to how Elias Aslaksen took the many different circumstances and situations of life. In all these things, he allowed himself be worked on by his Lord and Master, resulting in his transformation and sanctification. The song reflects what Aslaksen himself expressed in a small booklet entitled “Reactions” that was also published as a series in “Skjulte Skatter.” Here he wrote in the introduction: “The way you react to everything and everyone you meet in life will determine the degree of your happiness or unhappiness. Your reaction and only your reaction, is the determining factor. Whatever happens to you in life, whatever others say or do, these things in themselves have no bearing on your happiness or unhappiness; they neither add to it nor detract from it. . . . Others can neither make you happy nor unhappy. Only your reaction to what happens or to what others say or do (their conduct or their treatment of you and yours) can in any way affect your happiness or unhappiness.”
Zion I treasure; her laws are forever. Naught else on earth is of interest to me. E’en if my lot here is mock’ry and laughter, through His own flesh Jesus guideth my way.
Jesus has consecrated a “new and living way” for us, through the veil, which is His own flesh. Heb. 10:20. Disciples are called to follow Jesus on this way. Also, here the Lord will lead His followers, step by step, by His Holy Spirit, who is a guide into all truth. John 16:13.
On this way we encounter many things, many events, and many circumstances. Others may perhaps think it is ridiculous and very foolish that I react to things the way I do. They do not understand that the Lord Himself guides my way and arranges everything so that I can be more and more transformed into His image.
All Things Work Together for the Best
The entire song is strongly characterized by Rom. 8:28-29, which Elias Aslaksen often spoke about, and by which he was deeply gripped on a personal level: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
That all things work together for good, indeed for the best, is not some kind of “comfort” or “psychological help” that we cling to when everything seems hopeless. No, it is a firm and full assurance! If I love God, if I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, then I have been predestined to be conformed to His image! And for this glorious transformation to take place, He uses absolutely everything that comes my way; all these things are a means and instruments for this overwhelmingly glorious transformation to occur.
Elias Aslaksen expressed it this way in the article entitled “Faith in God’s Perfect Guidance”: “Not only does each single thing (or word or action or occurrence) serve us for our good (or for the best, as it says in a good many translations), but they must all work together for our good according to God’s perfect oversight and His perfect guidance, whether they want to or not. This tells us that everything is to our advantage who really love God. God has all the strings in His hands, pulling them in such a way that we avoid much that could harm us, encountering only those things that benefit us; they will further our education, our spiritual growth, and our progress!
What a God we have! What fantastic guidance from God!!! . . . if we lay hold of living faith in this tremendous truth, we will attain to perfect rest in God in our inner man in all of life’s changing circumstances; we will also gain perfect peace and joy as well as perfect thankfulness and contentment. It is impossible to be fully convinced of this without achieving it.”
When this living faith burns our hearts, we can sing with joy and enthusiasm: Time or location, peace, persecution—no more my joy by these things can be bound. His will is good here, whate’er may befall me. This both in word and in deed I have found. This is not merely a teaching, an unattainable ideal; Aslaksen clearly testifies that he himself had experienced this time and time again. It is the experience every wholehearted disciple has.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1 Thess. 4:3.
God’s will for us is our sanctification, that we be formed to the glory of His praise. Who can instruct Him, the Almighty Father, how to accomplish the work all our days?
Even though we are gripped by this most holy calling, to be conformed to the image of His Son and to become partakers of divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4), we as human beings have a strong tendency to want to decide for ourselves how this is to happen. We so easily forget that we have to do with the God whose thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth. Isa. 55:9.
When we come into the situations of life, we find it difficult to take the position that we are clay, and that He is the One who forms us, that we all are the work of His hand. Isa. 64:8. Even if we do not say it, our whole attitude is often such that we, as clay, would like to explain to the potter how he should work on us.
Close now your eyes and ears, my dear brother, to all that comes from this earth here so low. His will to see and obedience to render shall be your rod and your staff where you go.
There is a danger that all the impressions we take in, in an earthly and human way, can lead us far astray from this will of the Lord, our sanctification. So many questions arise in our thoughts: “Why?” “How can this be right?” “How long will this last?” and so on. Then what matters is to close the access to our heart from our natural senses, what we see, what we hear, what we understand with our human reason.
We can learn from the story of Job. He went through great tribulations. In the midst of all this he did not sin, and did not charge God with wrong for what had happened. Job 1:22. But there were many things he absolutely could not understand, and he expressed it through many chapters, until he finally fell silent: “The words of Job are ended.” Job 31:40. Only then was God Himself able to reveal Himself to him, and after that he says: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” Job 42:5.
We have a striking example of this in Ps. 105:17: “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave.” God’s will was to save His people from famine, and several years in advance He sent a man before them for this purpose. But how did Joseph experience it? He was sold as a slave, and later thrown into prison. Genesis 37 to 40. It was probably not easy to understand this with his human senses. But it was God who carried out His will, to bring Joseph to a powerful position and to the work he was appointed to: saving his whole people.
If I Stand Firm in This Attitude, It Becomes Salvation, Blessing, and Growth Both for Myself and for Others
Wisdom so good from the Father of spirits! All things He guides for my very best, I see. All that befalls me He turns and He causes to fit His plan of salvation for me. All things for good are working together, first for myself, this my heart understands. Then for my neighbor, my nearest and dearest. They will be nourished and blest by my hands.
It is by no means certain that we humans perceive everything that happens during the course of our walk through life as “the best for us.” There are many things we do not understand. Yes, it can even sometimes feel like severe chastening from the hand of God. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us of this, that the Lord chastens us “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Heb. 12:10-11.
Our walk of faith then consists in our soul remaining firmly anchored in the living hope (Heb. 6:19). We rejoice when God condemns the sin that still clings so tightly to us, and which is revealed by the Lord’s chastening that all the circumstances and tribulations of life provide us. It serves me for good, for the very best, to be transformed into the image of the Son.
As Elias Aslaksen expresses it at the end of the song, it also gives me a fruit—the fruit of the Spirit—that is a help to others, that causes my life to be a source of food, hope, and faith to others. This is in line with what Paul wrote to Timothy: “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” 1 Tim. 4:16.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is meant by “the way you react determines your happiness or unhappiness”?
According to Elias Aslaksen’s own article “Reactions,” it is never the event itself, or what others say or do, that determines whether we become happy or unhappy—it is exclusively how we ourselves choose to react to what happens.
What does Rom. 8:28-29 say about how “all things work together for good”?
The verse teaches that God uses absolutely everything that meets those who love Him—whether it is experienced as good or bad—as an instrument to shape them into conformity with the image of Jesus Christ. According to Aslaksen, it is not a comfort, but a firm and full assurance.
Why does the song say that we must “close our eyes and ears”?
It is not about denying reality, but about refusing to let our natural reason and our human questions (“Why?” “How long?”) determine how we relate to what God allows—just as Job finally fell silent before God revealed Himself to him (Job 31:40; 42:5).
What does the story of Joseph teach us in this regard?
According to Ps. 105:17 and Gen. 37-40, Joseph was sold as a slave without himself understanding God’s purpose there and then. Yet it was precisely through this injustice that God led him to a position where he could save an entire people from famine.
Does the good that God works through trials benefit only the one who experiences them?
No. The song and Heb. 12:10-11 show that the fruit of righteousness, which comes from growth through the Lord’s chastening, also becomes food, hope, and faith for others—in line with what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16.
