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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April, 1934
WhenQodLeavesus ALONE By ROY L. LAURIN* San Gabriel, "California
"[And, the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man ” (Gen. 6 :3 ). A pointed story went the rounds o f interest a few years ago. It was the tale o f a farmer who was out in his field looking over a very promising crop o f grain. A neighbor came by and, joining him, said, “ What a fine crop o f grain you have, neighbor/’ “ Yes,” replied the farmer, “ if God Almighty will only leave it alone, it will be a mighty fine crop.” As the story goes, the crop immediately stopped grow ing, for God left it alone according to the desire o f the foolish farmer. O f course, the story as an actual fact is unlikely; yet its underlying principle is true. The incident is possible, but not probable. Such a report might be true, if God were to take immediate account of instances o f defiance o f His great name. But there is value in this story. It opens the door upon a great company o f people who, in their attitude, are like this foolish farmer. They want God to leave human affairs alone. They want all marks of divine providence and divine government removed. They want all visible and invisible expressions o f God’s presence withdrawn. In their spirit, how similar they are to the foolish farmer! They think that if God will only leave us alone, we shall be able to raise a fine crop o f human beings. W e have atheists who
toward the West when he said, “ Go west, young man, go west.” Among many anecdotes told concerning the famous editor is this one: “ An acquaintance met Greeley one day, and said : ‘Mr. Greeley, I have stopped your paper.’ ■ “ ‘Have you?’ said the editor. ‘That’s too bad.’ . And he went his way. The next morning, Mr. Greeley met the man again and said, ‘I thought you had stopped the Tribune.’ “ ‘ So I d id / “ ‘Then there must be some mistake,’ said Mr. Greeley, ‘ for I just came from the office, and the presses were run ning, the clerks were as busy as ever, the compositors were hard at work, and the business was going on the same as yesterday and the day before.’ “ .‘Oh,’ ejaculated the man, ‘I didn’t mean I had stopped the paper. I had stopped my copy o f it, because I didn’t like your editorials.’ “ ‘Oh, is that all ? It wasn’t worth taking up my time to tell me such a trifle as that.’ ” This story reminds us that a good many people suppose that they are indispensable to God. They suppose that their objections to God’s management of the universe are going to change His policies. Yet each o f their objections is as unreasonable as that o f the foolish farmer. Man can not interfere with God’s method o f dealing with the uni verse; neither could he exist if God were to t leave him alone.
Do we ever stop to think o f what would be the consequences if God chose to leave us alone ? The desolation of such a divine withdrawal— with its attendant vacancy, destruction, and ar rested progress—would be beyond comprehen sion. The answer is startlingly simple: W e should perish. W e S hould P erish P hysically Our daily physical ex
a re militantly organized and engaged in a campaign o f godlessness. But these aggressive unbelievers are by no means the only indi viduals who are asking to be left alone. In every community there are men and women, respected cit izens, who, through their negative, indifferent lives, are saying to G od : “ I want to be left alone.” These|;| in cold unconcern, applaud the church, but rarely at tend it. They agree with Christianity, but n e v e r
istence depends upon the active presence and par ticipation o f God in the a f fairs o f life. God is not dead. His hands are not idly resting upon a golden throne in the heavens beyond the stars. His control o f the ordered events o f our universe, through an elaborate sys tem o f natural law, is as if the very hand o f God sus
support it. They may know the gospel, but never accept it. And this negative attitude is just another way, a refined and respectable way, o f saying: “ Yes, if God Almighty will only leave it alone, it will be a fine crop.” But the management o f the universe cannot be determined by either man’s active opposition to God or by his passive desire to be left to his own contrivances. The shallow objections offered by man in his ignorance merely reveal his limited understanding in contrast to the wider purposes of God. One o f the quaintest figures o f American life was Horace Greeley. It was he who set the face o f the East
M ore in N umber T han , the S and ”
tained the restless moving o f every sea, the ceaseless blow ing o f every wind, the careless growing o f every blade o f grass, and the measured breathing o f every babe. It is by God in Christ that “ all things consist,” and that “ all things” are upheld, “ by the word o f his power.” . Suppose that God should choose to leave us alone by suspending the law o f gravitation. That act would mean
* Pastor, San Gabriel Union Church.
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