GOD IN LIFE
by
William Mealand
IT IS GOOD at times to remind ourselves of the truth that touches us in the everyday of
life. Is God in life? He is, most truly, to those who deeply realize their own life as
being in God. Many, however, living on the surface of things, do not perceive so august a
presence.
God is in life. And to see
it is a continual source of instruction. Our vision may be circumscribed, but it is not
alone in our own small corner that we see divine operations. In the affairs of men we
often witness the truth of an old French phrase --"Man proposes, yet God
disposes."
Indeed, we may well presume
that life is largely made up of proposals. To do this or that, to go here or there, is the
main business of all. But, in such activity, how much is directly related to God? Is the
end worthy of the multiplicity of means?
Questions like these affect
the whole of life, with a special voice for the people of God. They, above all others,
should be aware of God's intimate working in the maze of life. In the words of another, it
should be said of them: "These are people with simple hearts, often unknown to fame,
whose chief interest is God, and God's ways with men. They have the forward look, for much
intercourse with God creates expectancy."
The stupendous thought that
God is "operating the universe in accord with the counsel of His will" imparts
composure. It is also a criterion for the judgment of human affairs. Moreover, it gives us
to see that the whole of creation moves in accordance with law. There is purpose and
design, cause and effect. And it is all to the great end that man may learn the evil of
evil, and by contrast, the good of good.
As those whom God
instructs, the privilege is ours of seeing Him working in the pomp and circumstance of
life, to note how He rules, definitely and directively in the affairs of men. And such
observation reveals the fact that equity and justice are not entirely postponed to a
future age. There are adjustments here and now, an intermingling of good with evil in
accord with unerring wisdom.
We are taught by the word
of His grace, which is adapted to build us up. So instructed, we see that cause and
effect, means and end, seed and fruit, cannot be severed. The effect already blooms in the
cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed. In such an order, events and
happenings are seen in truer perspective. Ours is the vision of a new creation, a realm
where all is of God. Our need is to live as seeing this.
So many only want to think
of God as love, a love on some sentimental plane of their own conception. They cannot
accept the truth that He is operative in life in the shadows, as well as in the sunshine.
If, say they, God is a God of love, He would not allow this or that great shock or horror
to visit the earth. Yet, some of these decriers would be the first to protest, if they
were openly restrained from all wrong actions.
Few acknowledge that God is
in life in things both small and great, and that, in the world at large, He is signally
seen in active and controlling operation. Even now, though God is silent as distinct from
His direct intervention on behalf of Israel, His hand may be seen in calamity and
catastrophe. What shall we say when He desolates a nation at a blast? Can He, and does He
not at times, use the elements to work His will and way?
When we think of
earthquakes and tidal waves, is the words of Cowper, the poet:
Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells
Of homogeneal and discordant springs
And principles. Of causes, how they work
By necessary laws their sure effect,
Of action and re-action. He has found
The source of the disease that nature feels,
And bids the world take heart and banish fear.
Thou fool! Will thy discovery of the cause
Suspend the effect or heal it? Has not God
Still wrought by means since first He made the world?
And did He not of old employ His means
To drown it? What is His creation less
Than a capacious reservoir of means
Formed for His use, and ready at His will? |
Yes, earth's storms indeed
are eloquent to the tutored ear. After all, the radio can give only a superficial view.
There is a cause beneath, and undercurrents which are distinctly out of God. And we do
well to heed them, lest we are drawn into the vortex of the strife of tongues. As we see
God's operation, tangible evidence is given to us of those wheels within wheels which so
bespeak God's movement in life. Thus is the whole of life covered for us. Covered, that we
may know joy and peace in believing, and a continual sense of God's care.
Science leaves but little
room for God. In the words of a living philosopher, "Science, having emerged from the
materialistic, self-sufficient phase of the nineteenth century, now recognizes the
incompleteness of its own presentation. Since it recognizes that there must be something
else it gives room for Deity." Yet, even then, men will take refuge in a
substituted "Providence." Indeed, one can be in company, when, to use God's
name, invites the curious look. But, by all means, let us use the name in quietness and
becoming reverence.
Again, how often we hear of
an issue as being "on the lap of the gods," or as being "decided by
destiny." Observe, too, the daily space in some newspapers given to
"horoscope." In all these expressions and various cults, there is a coming down,
a conformity to custom imposed by the press, and sometimes by the radio. How despotic
custom and tradition can be! Should it be a crime to do what nobody does, or not to do
what everybody does? Surely, if what we do, or do not do, is pleasing to God, that should
be enough. Life is enriched by a God-pleasing individuality.
As we take God's thoughts,
we shall test all things by His standards. His thoughts are wiser, better, and higher than
ours, and the vocabulary of His Word is the expression of truth. But let us see to it that
our phraseology is of that department of truth specially for this era of grace. And, as
the apostle Paul so uniquely points the way, the language of his epistles will prove a
sure guide. We shall then think, speak, and act as God would have us, realizing the while
the blessedness of Paul's experienced statement: "God is working all together for the
good of those who are loving God" (Rom.8:28).
God is working. He is in
life. And, "all is-together-acting into good," as it is literally expressed. An
incentive, surely, to leave our concerns to such capable operation, and to know, with
assurance, that He is appointing, directing, and disposing, for the good of those who are
loving Him. Well may we think of Him as "the Father glorious."
It is instructive to note
that here and now there is a placement, an apportionment to all, irrespective of birth or
station in life. Something of this was expressed by our Lord. "In what measure you
are measuring, it will be measured to you, and it will be added to you" (Mark 4:24).
There is an inescapable truth here. We are reminded of Paul's statement: "Whatever a
man may be sowing, this shall he be reaping also." Therefore, to be "sowing for
the spirit" is the highest wisdom, with its own rare reward.
God will be no man's
debtor. He but asks that we live and walk in spirit. This doing, He Himself will see us
through. With rare adjustment He confers and disposes gifts, qualities, and benefits. And
all will minister to an ideal doing. A sense of God's presence will be wonderfully ours,
and the more so if we are content with simple aims and pleasures.
At one and the same time we
are participants and spectators of life. But it is not necessarily the excessively active
people who see most truly, and who live most wisely. The quietly observant, moving it may
be in circumscribed spheres, are those more likely to see the hand of God in human
affairs. They are the true spectators, not being engrossed in the turmoil of life, but
viewing things with a detachment of spirit, and from a viewpoint in accord with God's
Word.
It is certainly true that
the more we see God in His Word, the more shall we perceive Him in the everyday of life.
Indeed, He is revealed in three unmistakable ways. And to see Him in all three is a
blessing of highest degree. Jenny Lind, the renowned singer, who once so charmed the
world, was once asked by a friend, as she sat on the sea beach: "What made you leave
the opera, Madame?" The songstress had been reading the Bible, and the sun was
setting in majestic glory over the waves. Jenny Lind replied: "Because every day I
was thinking less and less of that"--pointing to the sunset--"and nothing at all
of that" -- pointing to the Bible. Those who ever heard her sing the solo, "I
Know that My Redeemer Liveth," will never forget the tone of personal certainty,
founded on faith, with which she uttered, "I know."
Let us then not be
deflected in our perception by the babel of tongues. God has many agents, yet, in the maze
of things we should look beyond all to Him, even to the Father glorious. He, in the Son of
His love, wondrously controls all life and being. He it is Who gives us to know the
strength of life in Christ. Who also ushers us into the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He
Who so fashioned and shaped Paul's life to the glorious end of revealing His Son in him,
has, through him, left us wonderful letters, a mine of extraordinary richness.
In Paul's experiences we
see how vividly God moved in his life, how, step by step, He brought him from the
precincts of law to a marvelous grace. And with what passionate longing that others should
share such a spirit and life is he filled as he pens the uplifting words! The goodness he
would fain have us know and show is no cold observance of rules. He does not so much tell
us what we ought to be, as describe what we are. His language is not imperative but
indicative.
Three times is the truth
made clear that "God's spirit is making its home in you" (Rom.8:9-12). And in
this spirit we are to be walking, and led thereby. What an ideal! Untroubled by what
others are doing, the vital question is: What should I do! And here is an ideal which wll
always outstrip attainment. This one thing I do. A doing in and from the life of the
spirit. Not a spasmodic, exuberant and exotic life of the soul. Not a sense of duty, but
the gentle, even spontaneity of the spirit.
"Now the fruit of the
spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness,
self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Gal.5:22,23). How could there be?
In the practice of such
qualities we shall ensure a true vision of God in life. And what shall we say of that most
lovely and intimate relation--God as Father? Is it not deeply precious and vitally real?
Think of all the exquisite meaning Paul put into it. We at once think of the spirit of
sonship which is ours and how much is thereby conveyed to our hearts. The place,
privilege, and feeling of a son. What a God to be in life!
What outgoings of the
unmerited love of God surround us day by day! In a host of things we sense the wonder of
it. It will break down all monotony, lighten routine, so that, when day is done, a
benediction falls, a stillness He alone can give. The God Whom we see in life is not the
mere "Infinite," "The Great All," "Pure Being,"
"Mind," or "Principle." He is "the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ."
This truth, so vividly
demonstrated by the Son of His love, and so unequally stressed by the apostle Paul, is the
ever present standby of the faithful in Christ. Therefore is it real and true that,
"to us there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him, and one
Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is, and we through Him" (1 Cor.8:6). Could words
be more explicit, or more worthy an implicit belief?
Such a passage is an
epitome of mighty truth. It carries the mind back to the initial creation. Then, in the
power and promise of the present grace, there is seen the possibility of a glorious
future. Of Whom all is. Through Whom all is. Father and Son in perfect
unison of thought and accomplishment.
One day of wondrous
never-ending length, it will be known in every orb and world that God is indeed in life.
And it will be acknowledged that He is enough, the heart and mind to fill. God is
everything to them. Happily and acceptably, He is in and with all the creatures of His
hand. May we, and shall we not, enjoy the earnest of such a time?