The Highest View of God’s Government

‘“‘The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” — Joun i. 5.

IS there any greater comfort than the faith in an overruling Providence? Is there

any higher satisfaction possible to a human mind than the belief that God will, some day, scatter our darkness and shine forth resplendent? Yes; there is possible a higher comfort than that — the comfort of knowing that the darkness is itself God’s shining. There is one thing better than an overruling Providence, and that is a ruling Providence — a Providence in whose government there is nothing to be overruled. That is the Bible view of God. The popular idea of Divine love is that it is something which will ultimately conquer the clouds. The Bible’s thought is much more drastic; it is

that Divine love ‘“reacheth unto the clouds,”

that there is “no night there.” The Bible doctrine is not that God’s child will be recompensed in heaven for his losses on earth. It is that what on earth appears a loss has in heaven the aspect of a gain — just as night in one hemisphere makes morning in the other. The column of deaths here is a column of births yonder. The interrupted work here is a fresh energy yonder. Seeming accident here is result of law yonder. Incapacitating pain here is promotion to service yonder. Doors shut here are doors open yonder. Weights impeding here make wings for our sympathy yonder. Narrow lanes here enlarge our field yonder. Seasons of condolence here are times of congratulation yonder. It is not that earth’s night is heaven’s day — that while I am in silence the angels are in music; that would be but a poor solace. It is that to the light of heaven earth’s night is earth’s day — that my shadows are shining, that my silence is vocal, that my discord is music, that my burdens are burnished with gold. The darkness is light.

Lord, I should not like to think that to any child of Thine this world is a battle between cloud and sunshine. It is not enough for me to believe that one day Thou shalt say, “Let there be light!” No, my Father, rather would I have my solace to be, “This is the day the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in i.” When I stand under the cloud, I would feel that to other eyes, to Thine eyes, the cloud itself is clearness. I would feel that the cloud is a part of the Transfiguration glory, that my shadow is another’s sunshine, that my night is Thy morning. I would feel that even while the rain is on the river the sun is on the hill. I would feel that there are showers that belong to the shining, mists which are appropriate to the morning, minor chords which are inseparable from melodious cadence. I cannot rest in a love to come, in a light to come. I cannot believe in the suspension of Thy music, in the silence of Thy voice. Sometimes in the dense darkness I lie down to sleep in what I deem a trackless desert. Men say, “God will bring thee home to-morrow.” Nay, my Father, rather do I hope that, when I wake to-morrow, I shall find that all the night I have been lying at Thy palace door.