Nothing so helps the Christian to endure the trials of his path as the habit of seeing God in everything.
There is no circumstance, be it ever so trivial or ever so commonplace, which may not be regarded as a messenger from God, if only the ear be circumcised to hear, and the mind spiritual to understand the message.
If we lose sight of this valuable truth, life, in many instances at least, will be but a dull monotony, presenting nothing beyond the most ordinary circumstances. On the other hand, if we could but remember, as we start each day on our course, that the hand of our Father can be traced in every scene; if we could see, in the smallest as well as in the most weighty circumstances, traces of the divine presence, how full of deep interest would each day’s history be found!
Who could have thought that “a worm” and “a vehement east wind” could be joint agents in doing a work of God? If we turn to Jonah 4:77But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. (Jonah 4:7) and 8, we will find them used of God together. Great and small are only terms in use among men, and cannot apply to Him “who humbled Himself to behold the things that are in heaven,” as well as “the things that are on the earth.” Jehovah can tell the number of the stars, and while He does so, He can take knowledge of the falling sparrow. He can make the clouds His chariot, and a broken heart His dwelling place. Nothing is great or small with God.
The believer, therefore, must not look upon anything as ordinary; for God is in everything. True, he may have to pass through the same circumstances, to meet the same trials, to encounter the same reverses as other men; but he must not meet them in the same way, nor interpret them on the same principle; nor do they convey the same report to his ear. He should hear the voice of God, and heed His message in the most trifling, as well as the most momentous occurrence of the day. The disobedience of a child, or the loss of an estate; the obliquity of a servant, or the death of a friend, should all be regarded as divine messengers to his soul.
So, also, when we look around us in the world, God is in everything. The overturning of thrones, the crashing of empires, the famine, the pestilence, and every event that occurs amongst the nations, exhibit traces of the hand of God, and utter a voice for the ear of man. The devil will seek to rob the Christian of the real sweetness of this thought; he will tempt him to think that, at least, the commonplace circumstances of everyday life exhibit nothing extraordinary, but only such as happens to other men. But we must not yield to him in this. We must start on our course every morning with this truth vividly impressed on our minds: God is in everything. The sun that rolls along the heavens in splendid brilliancy, and the worm that crawls along the ground, have both alike been prepared of God, and, moreover, could both alike cooperate in the development of His unsearchable designs.
I would observe, in conclusion, that the only one who walked in the abiding remembrance of the above precious and important truth was our blessed Lord. He saw the Father’s hand, and heard the Father’s voice, in everything. This appears preeminently in the season of the deepest sorrow. He came forth from the garden of Gethsemane with those memorable words,
He recognized in the fullest manner that God is in everything.