The Management of Our Affairs!

The Bible lays a solid ground for our comfort, when it assures us that all things are under the government of God. He superintends the affairs of this world, both as the provident parent and as the moral governor of His creatures.

The Bible declares that God created them, and that whatever beings He deigned to create, He does not disdain to care for. It assures us that no being is so great as to be exempt from His control and none are so little as to be beneath His regard. And, in like manner, that His eye is directed to every event which may befall any one of His creatures with no event being either so momentous, or so insignificant as to be beyond His management, or unworthy of His notice. The sparrow which falls to the earth is not less an object of His regard than the seraph that stands before His throne!

That all His creatures in this world, and all the events of human life, of whatever kind they may be are under God's regulation and control is, of itself, fitted to banish that feeling of uncertainty and hopelessness which the aspect of events might otherwise awaken. And how important to know that nothing happens by chance, that everything is ordained and appointed according to certain divine principles which are fixed and stable, and that these principles will continue to be developed, until the grand end of God's government shall have been attained!

But, however important this information may be, it could ill suffice to cheer the heart amidst its sorrows, or to inspire that living hope which alone can bear us up under their heavy pressure were we not further assured, that the government under which we live is conducted by a God of infinite intelligence and wisdom; a being who cannot err--one who knows the end from the beginning; and is alike incapable of choosing an improper end, or of employing unsuitable means for its attainment.

A persuasion of God's perfect wisdom in the management of our affairs is the more needful, in proportion as we feel our own helplessness, and are taught, by disappointments and trials that our affairs are too high and too great to be managed by ourselves. And when assured of this precious truth, we shall the more readily submit to all God's appointments satisfied, that although we know not the plan of His operations yet it is known and approved of by One whose wisdom is the best guarantee of the universe.

[James Buchanan]

Psalm 97:1 … The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

Revelation 19:6 … And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.❤

The Lord's Rod Has a Voice!

As affliction proceeds neither from blind necessity, nor from casual accident but from the hand of your Omniscient Governor and Judge; so nothing can be more certain than that it is designed for the accomplishment of some great and useful purpose!

Now the design of affliction is expressly revealed in the Word of God. He has condescended to explain the reasons of His dealings with you and it is alike your duty and your privilege to consider and to concur in His declared design. The general end of affliction, as it is explained in God's Word, is the moral and spiritual improvement of believers in other words, their progressive sanctification, and their preparation for glory. Oh! how important must the right use of affliction be, if it is intended to terminate in such a blessed result. It stands connected with our everlasting welfare with all that we can enjoy on earth, and all that we hope for in Heaven.

But more particularly, the day of adversity is intended for our INSTRUCTION. The Lord's rod has a voice which speaks to us lessons of heavenly wisdom. Therefore, we are required "to hear the rod, and Him who has appointed it." (Micah 6:9.) "The rod and reproof give wisdom." (Proverbs 29:15.) It presents to our minds many of the same great truths which are declared in Scripture but which we may have overlooked, or failed rightly to understand until they were pressed on our attention, and made the matter of our personal experience in the day of trouble.

Thus, it teaches most impressively, that great Scriptural truth of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency as the portion of rational and immortal beings. This is a truth which might almost be regarded as self-evident; yet it is one which is very slowly and reluctantly admitted by the young disciple, and which can only be effectually impressed on his mind, and unfolded in all its extent, by the experience of disappointment and sorrow.

In like manner, the day of adversity teaches us the great lesson of our entire and constant dependence on God. But a little while before, we were rejoicing in the midst of prosperity our health was sound, our business prosperous, our families entire. But the sudden stroke has come which has smitten our bodies with disease, our business with bankruptcy, or our families with death. And that stroke has come from the Lord's hand!

Oh! in such circumstances, we are impressively taught that we are absolutely in God's power; that all that we have is at His sovereign disposal; that we depend on Him, day by day, continually for our personal preservation, our worldly prosperity, our domestic comfort, for all, in short, that we desire or need on earth.

These are some of the lessons which adversity, when viewed as a means of moral instruction, is fitted to inculcate and to impress with great practical power on our hearts. When these lessons are duly considered; and, above all, when they are submissively embraced and acted on the disciple will learn from his own experience the value of affliction, and admire the wisdom with which God suits His lessons to the most urgent necessities of his soul.

[James Buchanan]

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Job 5:6-7 … Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.❤

Unspeakable Consolation

We have the unspeakable consolation of knowing that the same divine and compassionate Redeemer who suffered, and bled, and died on for us has the entire management of our affairs; and that nothing can happen in the course of providence, which is not appointed by Him "Who loved us and gave Himself for us!"

In proportion to our persuasion of His love for us, should be our confidence in His government over us. And what proof of sincerity, or what pledge of love, can we desire which is not given by His past dealings on our behalf? If He died for us on the cruel cross then certainly He will now, when all things are put under His power, "make all things work together for our good!"

We may rest assured that the love which He manifested for us on earth, is but a pledge of the love which He still bears to us and that He will neither forget nor forsake us, until He has accomplished the grand end of His mission, by our deliverance from all evil, and our joyful entrance into the glorious kingdom of Heaven!

Oh! how cheering to know, that amidst the joys of Heaven, Jesus has not forgotten any one of His "little flock" for whom He suffered in the garden and on the cross!

[James Buchanan]

Romans 8:32 ... He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

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The General Cause of All Suffering

In the day of adversity, you should consider the causes and occasions of suffering in general and especially, inquire into the causes and occasions of your own affliction at the present time.

As to the general cause of all suffering it is sin, and nothing else than sin. But for this accursed thing, there would be no affliction in the world, no painful disease, no abject poverty, no hostile violence, no death, and no damnation. All suffering proceeds from one general cause namely, our inherent and actual sinfulness in the sight of God!

Sin is the root of all bitterness and it is no wonder that its fruits are bitter. Rest assured, that God has not allowed so much suffering to prevail in the world from mere indifference to its welfare, or from any disposition to cruelty. No! "God is love" and your happiness is dearer to Him than any other object, His own glory excepted.

All suffering is designed to mark His holy displeasure against sin, and to vindicate the honor of that Law which God, as the righteous moral Governor of the world, has prescribed for the regulation of our hearts and lives.

When viewed in this light, the sufferings which prevail to such a melancholy extent in the world are fitted to deepen our conviction of the odious nature of sin. For when we reflect, on the one hand, on the infinite love of God, and His delight in the happiness of His creatures; and consider, on the other hand, how that, notwithstanding this love God has permitted, nay, appointed so many evils to befall us. Oh! are we not sensible that sin, which is the cause of all suffering, must be, in His estimation, a most offensive and loathsome thing!

[James Buchanan]

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Ecclesiastes 7:14 ...  In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

2 Corinthians 4:17 ... For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Hebrews 11:25 ... Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;❤

In God's School

The believer is called to exercise a meek and quiet spirit, in reference to all God's providential dealings towards him. In the course of God's providence, he may be raised to great prosperity or he may be reduced to deep poverty and distress. In either case, he is still meek and quiet towards God.

But meekness is more peculiarly appropriate in the season of adversity and trial. Such seasons every Christian has experienced, and many yet expect. It is through great tribulation that we must enter the Kingdom. If all men are born to trouble, the Christian is doubly sure of his share, for "whom the Lord loves, He chastens; and scourges every son whom He receives." At such seasons, and especially if the trial is very severe, or suddenly sent, or long-continued, the disciple is in God's school, learning a practical lesson of no easy attainment even the lesson of meekness and quietness towards God. His clearest duty is that of resigned submission, of uncomplaining acquiescence in God's will.

[James Buchanan]

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Psalm 39:9 ... I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

Hebrews 12:6 ... For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

1 Peter 3:4 ... But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.❤

We Are Now in The Wilderness

There is a striking analogy between the Israelites in the wilderness, on their journey to Canaan and believers in the world, on their journey to Heaven. The history of the former, has been recorded mainly for the purpose of guiding and comforting the latter.

Dear brethren, we are now in the wilderness! This poor world is not our rest! We too have heard of a city of habitation, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And many of us, I trust, have been separated from the world and united to that company of pilgrims who have set their faces steadfastly to go up to the Jerusalem above.

God is our leader, as He was theirs. And as God is our leader, so our path through life is as really ordered and directed by Him, as was the way of the Israelites in the wilderness. True, we hear no audible voice from Heaven, directing our steps; but God leads us by His providence, shutting us up to a particular line of life, fixing the bounds of our habitation, determining our work, our connections, our success, by a variety of circumstances over which we feel that we have no control, and many of which are apparently trivial but not one of them are by chance or accidental. And as God is our leader, and as our path in life is prescribed and ordered by Him so, if we belong to the number of His people, we may rest assured that He is leading us by the right way.

Our experience, indeed, may often resemble that of the Israelites in the wilderness. God may seem to lead us in a circuitous and indirect way. We may be, we shall be, subjected to tribulation. We must leave the world behind us, as the Israelites left the flesh pots of Egypt. We must encounter difficulties, and endure the assault of enemies, and sustain trials, such as will humble us and prove us, and show what is in our hearts. Our hearts, too, may be much discouraged because of the hardness of the way. It may seem a tedious, a dreary, a perplexing way and, when faith is ready to fail, it may lead us to murmur against the Lord.

All this is true but the Lord knows the way which we take in this great wilderness; and as sure as God is our guide, so sure is it, that He is leading us by the right way. All the difficulties, all the trials, all the disappointments, all the bereavements, all the delays, all the chastisements which befall us are as needful for us, as they were for the children of Israel. We, too, need to be proved. We, too, need to be humbled. We, too, have evil hearts of unbelief which must be subdued. We, too, must be educated by instruction, and trained by discipline, and purified by suffering that we may be fitted for our glorious inheritance above.

There is an inheritance for us, as there was for them. Their inheritance in the land of Canaan was but a type or shadow of the incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance, reserved in Heaven for us.

And seeing that God has opened up such a glorious prospect before us, Oh! why should we doubt that He will lead us by the right way on our journey towards it. Why should we quarrel with any of His appointments here if they are all designed to fit and prepare us for such a glorious destiny hereafter?

Would we take the regulation of our life out of God's hands and keep it in our own?

Would we think it safer and better for us to be guided by our own will rather than by His unerring wisdom and infinite love?

No, our safety is, that we are in God's hands! The Lord is our Shepherd, and we may rest assured, that however perplexing the path may be by which He conducts us. He will lead us like a flock through the wilderness; that while we are in it, goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life; and that in the end we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

[James Buchanan]

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Exodus 15:13 ... Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

Psalm 107:7 ... And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

Luke 12:32 ... Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.❤

They Are New Every Morning

Each Christian may find in his own case, some peculiar token of God's providential kindness to him. It is in the details of each man's personal history that we find the most touching manifestations of God's providential care. None of us can refuse to acknowledge that we have been the objects of a watchfulness which has never slumbered, and of a benevolence which has never been weary in doing us good.

Were we to attempt an enumeration of all the blessings which we have received at God's hand, deliverances which He has wrought out for us,snares from which He has preserved us, manifestations of His long-suffering patience, and tender mercy, of which we ourselves have been the objects were we to begin with the years of infancy and helplessness, and to trace our progress through the slippery paths of youth, until we reached our present state--we would soon find how impossible it is to reckon up the sum of our innumerable obligations to "the loving-kindness of the Lord."

For not only has God spared us in life, and upheld us from day to day, by His almighty power; not only has He given us our daily bread, and made our cup to run over and that, too, notwithstanding all the ingratitude which we have displayed, and the manifold provocations which we have offered; but, in peculiar seasons, in seasons of difficulty and trial.  He has often delivered our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling, and our souls from death!

And as often as we have cried to the Lord in our trouble, He has delivered us from our distresses or supported and comforted us under them. So that each of His redeemed people, on a review of God's dealings with Him, will be forced to exclaim:

"The Lord has been my Shepherd!" (Psalm 23:1)

"I have not lacked any good thing!" (Psalm 34:10)

"Hitherto has the Lord helped me!" (Psalm 118:13)

"The Lord has done all things well!" (Mark 7:37)

"Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life!" (Psalm 23:6)

[James Buchanan]

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Lamentations 3:22-23 ...  It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. ❤