The world is a place of movement, conflict and change. There is great activity on every hand, ceaseless activity, so that men have scarcely time to rest. Forces vie with one another for supremacy and come into the fiercest conflict, one bent on overthrowing the other in order that one may ride to power over the ashes of the other. The world is also a place of change. Hardly anything is stable. Changes take place in every department of life — some for the better, some for the worse. Often it must seem to the eyes of the onlooker that the world is a Babel — a place of confusion. From man’s side how often it is a place of confusion and this being so we might be ready to despair of any ordered pattern ever prevailing or any significant end ever being accomplished.
We are not left, however, to such despairing thoughts. The Bible, as it were, leads us behind the scenes and shows us that amidst all the changing scenes of time, amidst all the conflicts of men, amidst the shaking of kingdoms, amidst all the tragedies and triumphs, the sorrows, vexations and calamities, as well as the rejoicings and ecstasies of this world, there is One who, seated upon His Throne, is guiding and directing the destinies of nations and men, and is overruling all events and is ordering all things to His own glory. This is what gives stability in the midst of the roaring and raging of the waves — that over these the Lord sits King and ever shall. That God reigns is a truth full of comfort, not only in times of prosperity but also of adversity, to all who lay hold of it.
It is clear from the Word of God that God is a God of order and not of confusion. Why then, we may ask, is there all this disorder and confusion and all this evil and conflict which we see? It cannot be laid at God’s door and therefore must be laid at man’s door. It is through sin that these evils have appeared in this world. Until sin entered the world was beautiful and serene, without a ripple on its surface. Man’s relation with man was harmonious and man’s relation with God undisturbed. The entry of sin changed all that. When sin entered every evil followed in its train. How to restore the order that prevailed at the beginning has been the task of men and nations ever since. Yet how little progress has been made on the road to harmony and unity is evident from the present state of the world. Systems such as Communism promise a Utopia in the future — one built on the graves of millions who are to be destroyed to secure it. Yet how hopeless — and worse than hopeless — are all these strivings after peace and unity. They can never succeed.
Where then is order to be found? It can be found only with Him and in Him and through Him who reigns at God’s right hand. He is the Prince of peace. The government is upon His shoulder. He is reigning high above all the confusion and disorder. He will establish peace — peace in the world and peace and quiet in the hearts of men.
We are in the midst of change in the nation — God sets up one and casts another down. We are in the midst of solemn events in the Church. Yet over and beyond all these changes there is the glorious fact that God reigns. He is doing according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou? Let us take encouragement from this fact even when it seems that all the foundations of the earth are gone out of their course. What comforting assurance there is at such a time in the knowledge that God reigns. Let us go on then in His strength, recording His righteousness and His only.