God’s providential reign
Octavius Winslow, The Lord’s Prayer
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.”
