River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-03-09
THE HAND
OF GOD
By REV. STEPHEN PAULSON


the king Artaxerxes of Babylon. Ezra
was sent back to Jerusalem with great
stores of gold and silver for the tenn
pie. The king offered him a military
guard for the journey, but Ezra de-
clares 1t unnecessary, for, he says,
THE hand OF God is upon all them for
good, that seek him."
Ezra here announces a fact which
often passes out of our reckoning.
There was time when fatalism was
the general creed and it still fingers
In many minds. 1t is dreary faith to
live by and not true to facts. There is
more beautiful creed and more COM
forting, and that is the personal provi-
dence OF loving father-the hand of
God upon all them for good that seek
him.
First let us recognize that divine
government in our lives is fact. No
one can live and defy Gods laws with
lmpunity. Many men seem to think
that no notice is taken of their &C
tons, and they go on in their evil
ways and apparently prosper. Occa-
sionally one may escape from the jus.
tice of human law, but there is no es-
cape from divine law.
The hand of God is disturbing ele-
ment. You may be perfectly satisfied
with yourself, but God is not satisfied
with you. Only to one did he say,
"This is my beloved son in whom am
well pleased" There are so many
things in our lives that God is not
pleased with If his hand Is upon us for
good. So God never allows us to re-
main in peace. You would not expect
Gods government in our lives to be
one Of Indifference and tranquility.
Do you think, for instance, that God
Is satisfied with social and moral and
political conditions as they are? No,
he is not. And therefore God is con-
tinually stirring up good men and in
fuences to battle against evil and OPP
preston and to spread the principles
Of his kingdom, and there are those
who resent this divine interference
and make his servants bear the brunt
Of their displeasure.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a dis
turbing element wherever it comes,
for 1t cannot exist side by side with
evil and oppression, without striving
to oppose and overcome them. That
was what Jesus had reference to
when he said, II am not come to
send peace upon the earth, but a
sword"
China lived in self-satisfied igno-
rance and darkness. Progress was an
unknown word and not desired. The
same customs and practices and the
same primitive methods had obtained
for 1000 years. Then came the man
with the gospel and it proved dis
turbing element. Missionaries have
sometimes been accused by short
sighted persons Of causing disturbance
and dissension. The charge is true
in SO far as they are true to the gos-
pei they preach. 1t is the eternal
and inevitable conflict between light
and darkness, between truth and
falsehood, between good and evil, be-
tween Christ and Satan.
The hand of God in human lives is
a progressive element. God disturbs
our lives to move them on to some
thing better. With him there is never
retrogression. If God asks me to
strike my tent today to move yonder,
It is because yonder there is q higher
possibility, a more glorious outlook
Progress is not necessarily pleas
ant. Notice how Moses speaks Of the
departure from Horeb, where many of
Israelites were most willing to re.
main: "And when we departed from
Horeb we went through all the great
and terrible wilderness which ye saw
by the way Of the mountain of the
Ammorites" 1t was progress, but 1t
was not pleasant. 1t was through the
great and terrible wilderness. It was
difficult progress, but the goal was
Canaan, the land Of promise.
There is a beautiful illustration of
the hand Of God in human lives. in
the thirty-second chapter Of Deuter.
onomy: GAS an eagle stirreth up her
nest, fiuttereth over her young, taketh
them, beareth them on her pinions; so
the Lord did lead him."
The picture is full of poetry, full
of life and truth and beauty. Think
over it. The nest is upon a rocky
height. The mother eagle comes and
takes the eaglets and filings them out
of the nest. They scream with fright
and begin to fall to the ground. But
having stirred up her nest, the eagle
"spreadeth abroad her wings" She
swoops beneath them, "beareth them
on her pinions." She drops them
again and again they struggle, but
this time not so helplessly. They be
rim to understand what she means
She is teaching them to fly.
Perhaps circumstances have flung
you out until you felt lost in an e1e.
ment that was new and strange to
you. Look unto God, who is the help
Of all who seek him. He spreads out
the wings of his omnipotence to pro.
tect you. He is teaching you to use
the gifts which he has bestowed upon
you. There is purpose in the great
wings Of the eagle. 1t is flight There
is a purpose in your life, child OF
God. It is flight Godward, sunward,
heavenward.