All Things are Under the Government of God, by James Buchanan, 1804-1870

The Bible lays a solid ground for our comfort when it assures us that all things are under the government of God. “The Lord reigns!” (Psalm 97:1) He superintends the affairs of this world, both as the provident parent and as the moral governor of His creatures.

He Cares for All

The Bible declares that God created all things and that whatever beings He created, He cares 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. In like manner, His eye is directed to every event which may befall any one of His creatures.  No event is 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!

God is Sovereign

All His creatures in this world, and all the events of human life, are under God’s regulation and control. This banishes the feeling of uncertainty and hopelessness, which events might otherwise awaken. And how important to know that nothing happens by chance. Everything is ordained and appointed according to certain divine principles that are fixed and stable. And these principles will continue to be developed until the grand end of God’s government shall have been attained!

However important this information may be, it does not cheer the heart amidst its sorrows. Nor does it inspire living hope which can bear us up under their heavy pressure. Furthermore, we are 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
• He who is incapable of choosing an improper end, or of employing unsuitable means for its attainment.

God’s Perfect Wisdom

A persuasion of God’s perfect wisdom in the management of our affairs is needful, as we feel our own helplessness.  We 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 more readily submit to all God’s appointments. We will be satisfied that although we know not the plan of His operations, yet it is known and approved of by the One whose wisdom is the best guarantee of the universe. And thus, will the idea of blind fate be excluded, and also the idea of chance.

Yearnings of the Heart

Still, the heart desires something more. It is not enough that the world is neither left to the random vicissitudes of chance–nor governed by a blind and inexorable fate. It is not enough for our comfort to know that a God of infinite intelligence presides over affairs and that laws are the emanations of His unerring wisdom.

Great and glorious as these discoveries are, the heart longs to know the character, not less than the wisdom of that Almighty Being. The heart longs to be acquainted, if not with His secret purposes, at least with the nature of His moral perfections and His dispositions towards us. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” Romans 5:8 

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns!” Revelation 19:6