The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-12-24
@bort gernrorrs
For
5unnap Dalf-Dour
Theme:
DOES GOD SEND
TROUBLE?
4. r r
By Rev. John Belcom Shaw.


induced. Its cause is found in a mans
sons turn out to be drunkards and
cause him much sorrow and perhaps
loss has no one to blame but himself.
A woman in my first parish COM
planned bitterly because God had TAX
en- from her a husband and five. chill
dren; but, upon inquiry, found that
all of them had died of consumption.
Heredity was responsible for her re-
peated bereavements. None Of the
blame could be referred back to God.
OF such troubles as these-troubles
not sent by an outside agent, but
brought on by ones self-we are not
to speak here.
1t is of troubles that have no hu-
man cause we are inquiring. Who
sends these? No one who has any
faith at all can believe they Just come.
II affliction be hit or miss kind of
thing, like lightning striking where
1t happens to, we are then under the
domination of fate, and any reasona-
Bile philosophy or faith Is unwarrant.
ed. This, however, is not our belief.
There must be mind and purpose be-
hind our trouble and that is the sup
position with which we are starting.
II affliction cometh not forth from
the dust nor springeth out of the
ground, what is it's source? Satan,
answer a great group of people. Evil
cannot come from God, and therefore
trouble must be referred to some 9th
er agency. But, my friend, If we live
in world where Satan exercises that
amount of power, to inhabit it Is the
greatest misfortune imaginable. 1t Is
the worst possible world, and in 1t you
could not be less than pessimist. We
are at the mercy not of uncertainty
but of sheer malignity, which is in
finitely worse.
No, the only safe foundation to
build upon is the absolute sovereignty
of God. He is behind everything
Nothing happens. Divine commission
or divine permission will account for
all that takes place. If God should
step down from His throne for a Sec
ond, it would mean the wreck of the
universe.
Do you mean to say that the good
just, loving God, our heavenly Faith
er, actually appoints our sorrows?
Yes, or permits them to be visited
upon us, which with an omnipotent
being, say what you will, is the same
thing, and makes him in the last an
alysis responsible for them. A prori-
nent theological professor in this
country issued book some years ago
In which he tried to refute this con-
clusion, but it was the universal ver-
dict of thinking men that he did not
make his point, and the book has long
since passed into oblivion. That foun-
dation Is not constructable. Either
God is absolute or He is not; If He is
not, in the strictest sense He is not
God. 1t is easier, saner, safer, sound
er, to trace all trouble, other than
that we have already excepted, back
to Him in whom we live and move and
have our being.
This is the representation we have
in the Bible, Satan first gets permis-
sion before he sets out to attack Job,
and God, in granting the permission,
limits the adversary. The same Is
true in Peters case, as our Lord Him.
self informs us. Satan's desire was
granted, but Christ represents him.
self as praying for him that his faith
fail not, and in the confidence that
Peter would triumph He bids him up
on being converted, to strengthen his
brethren.
Well, If God sends trouble, what
is His purpose? His will, as we'll as
His mind, must be behind 1t. The
same purpose, doubtless. as is back
of the permission of sin. With Satan
the motive is malevolent; with God
benevolent. Sin was allowed in the
world because in the end its working
would prove wholesome and helpful to
man. An English scientist has de
clared that fearful to contemplate as
is the battle which is all the while go
ing on in nature for the survival Of the
fittest, no sane man observing 1t car
doubt that the material world has
benefited by it. So with the history
of sin. God forsaw that He could ul
timately develop stronger race with
1t to contend against than otherwise
and with that ultimate end in view
He who fights his way through oppo
sition and struggles comes at length
to higher ground than the man who
finds everything in his favor. The
brother Of the Earl of Aberdeen wen
to Halifax and entered as a midship
man that he might earn an appoint
ment to the admiralty rather than in
herit 1t. Did he not make far better
admiral than he could have become 1
he had secured the position through
influence or favoritism? This is VIII!
God permitted sin to enter the worl(
and tempt man, and this Is the rea
son why He sends trouble into ou
lives. 1t Is the pruned hedge that Il
always the thickest and greenest, thu
upstream rover who is the toughest
the climber rather than the geniu
who first reaches the heights. Pluck
pansy and two will grow in its place