WHY DOES NOT GUD DO SOMETHING?
Md HO is not appalled at the fright-
3 WA ful massacre of men, women,
Ard and children going on in the
MEM oarth today? Great structures,
requiring years and fortunes to erect, are
being leveled in a moment. Millions of
free men are suddenly being transformed
into serfs of intolerant dictators. Art,
culture, and religion are being cast into
the discard.
Our times are not unlike those of Judah
in the days of King Asa. Of them the
Prophet Azariah said: “There was no
peace to him that went out, nor to him
that came in, but great vexations were
upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
And nation was beaten in pieces of nation,
and city of city.” 2 Chronicles 15:5, 6,
margin.
In the face of this world calamity there
is heard the appealing cry, “ Why does not
God do something?” We believe that God
is doing something, and that in a short
time He is going to surprise the world by
His “strange act.” Isaiah 28:21.
The Scriptures are filled with evidences
of God’s continual superintendence of
world affairs. They furnish abundant
proof that when men think they are carry-
ing out plans by their own power and
wisdom, in reality they are fulfilling God’s
purposes.
“History is not a chain of events follow-
ing each other in logical sequence,’ de-
clares Pierre Van Paassen, the distinguished
journalist. ‘At every turn one finds mys-
terious and inexplicable incidents ‘not the
result of hazard or of personal initiative’
and which seem to be ‘injected by the
creative force of spiritual currents.’”’—
“Days of Our Years,’ page 491.
These mysterious spiritual currents are
no doubt the forces of the Almighty. Said
Benjamin Franklin: “The longer I live,
the more convincing proofs I see of this
truth—that God governs in the affairs of
@
men.
To see God’s overruling providences in
the movements of the nations is to under-
stand the real philosophy of history. Only
God can weigh the nations in the scales of
justice and equity. Ile alone discerns the
motives and hidden schemes of rulers and
peoples, and the way in which they lift
themselves up “against the Lord of
heaven.”
God is no respecter of persons or nations.
He drove out the wicked nations of Caanan
and established His people in their places.
He made them a nation, and gave them
good and just laws. When they failed to
appreciate and practice those divine prin-
ciples, then they, too, were driven out and
scattered among the nations.
God commandeered Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, a “hammer” of the earth,
Page TEN
to execute His judgments upon the city of
Jerusalem. Tor centuries the nations
round about had respected that great and
glorious city. They recognized that a
Power above their gods protected its
battlements, and that from 1ts temple and
sanctuary there went forth messages of
truth and justice.
Its downfall came as a surprice. In
lamenting its destruction, the prophet
Jeremiah cried out in anguish: “The kings
of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the
world, would not have believed that the
adversary and the enemy should have en-
tered into the gates of Jerusalem.”
Lamentations 4: 12.
The fall of nations today equally may
be a surprise to the inhabitants of the
world, but “the curse causeless shall not
come.” God knows the records of the na-
tions. And who can stay His hand?
God sought to teach Nebuchadnezzar
that He was the real ruler of the nations.
But the king would not accept such an
idea. He rebelled against it. He would not
believe that his kingdom would come to
an end and be followed by a lesser power.
After rejecting several divine messages
sent to him through the prophet Daniel,
he was stricken by the lightning of God's
judgment. See Daniel, chapter 4. He was
driven from his throne, to dwell with the
beasts of the field. He lived there for
seven years, where he discovered that there
is a higher Power. In his humility he con-
fessed that there is One who could depose
him and give his kingdom to another:
By Claude E. Holmes
“All the inhabitants of the earth are re-
puted as nothing: and He doeth according
to His will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth: and
none can stay His hand, or say unto Him,
What doest Thou?” Daniel 4: 35.
There are many professed Christians to-
day who have not yet learned the truth
taught Nebuchadnezzar centuries ago—
that God rules in the kingdom of men.
They read the newspapers and listen to
broadcasts over the radio, instead of
prayerfully studying the Bible and listen-
ing to the voice of God speaking through
1ts pages.
They fail to recognize the hand of God
in the movements of the nations. They
have it all worked out according to their
own ideas and leave the Creator out of the
matter. As a result influential persons and
religious bodies are taking sides against
this nation and that one, and against one
ruler in favor of another. But the “word
of the holy ones” testifies to God's super-
intendence of world affairs:
“This matter is by the decree of the
NAN zZzL.
srs ANN)
¥ While preparing for defense against foreign
totalitarianism, the American government is
not forgetting the religious influence necessary
in the army for a high morale. Shown is a
post chapel constructed for the use of the
soldiers at Randolph Field, Texas.
The WATCHMAN MAGAZINE