Almighty God's Providential Reign
“The
LORD shall reign
for
ever and ever.”
-Exodus
15:18 [KJV]
This
world is not a kingdom without a throne, a throne without a
sovereign, or a sovereign without a scepter; by no blind accident are
the affairs of this planet governed. God is in the history of the
world its past, its present, and its yet unshapen future.
The
statesman and the politician may not recognize this fact; but it is
so, God rules the kingdom of providence.
His
hand is moving and controlling all events and circumstances, national
and social, public and private; giving birth, and shape and tint to
those phenomena in the history of nations, and to those affairs in
the history of individuals, which to human perception are often
enshrouded in mystery so dreadful and profound.
Let
this view of God's providential reign hush all murmurings at our lot,
making us content with such things as we have, assured that He will
never leave us nor forsake us. Let it bow our soul in meek submission
to His sovereign will, in view of those painful and inexplicable
events which sometimes cast the darkest shade upon our sunniest
landscape, and dash from our lips their sweetest cup of joy.
Let
it incite our gratitude for the blessings loaned us so long, though
now removed; and for the blessings which still remain to soothe, and
gladden, and cheer us onward. Let it strengthen our faith in the
Divine assurance that our daily bread shall be given us, our path
shielded amid encircling evil, and our soul, guided by His counsel
and kept by His power, eventually and safely conducted home to glory.
“Yes,
Lord, the kingdom of providence is Yours, and I would see Your hand,
and trace Your wisdom, and taste Your goodness in all the shaping and
tinting of my whole history. I would deal alone with You in all the
lights and shadows of my daily life. Those lights and shadows are of
Your penciling, O Lord. If joy thrills my heart, it is of Your
inspiration. If sorrow breaks it, it is of Your sending. Teach me
that I have, in all things, to do only with You.”
-Gospel
report by preacher Octavius Winslow (1808 – 1878 A.D.)
Comments