8th Sunday after Trinity - 27 Jul 1958

According to the Collect for this Sunday, the 8th after Trinity, God’s never failing providence orders all things both in heaven and on earth. If God is the all wise and all loving, it is difficult to believe that it is He who orders all things, in the sense that He plans and desires them. Many things that happen in the world are the result of the cruelty, injustice and the folly of men. It is difficult to believe that even these are in accordance with the will of a wise and loving God. However in one sense it is possible to believe God orders all things, and that is, in the sense that all things fall within his general permissive control. He has planned the broad conditions of human life, and it is being worked out within a scheme of which He is the author. In that sense we can believe that God’s never failing providence orders all things both in heaven and on earth. All things that happen to us, those that are good as well as those which appear to be harmful to us, all come under his control.

It is true that we cannot ascribe to God many events that are the result of the wickedness and folly of men. But throughout the ages it has been the firm conviction men that all events, even those that hurt them, have been overruled by God for their moral and spiritual good. ‘It is good for me that I have been in trouble that I might learn Thy statute.’ That was the experience of the Psalmist. The troubles and hardships he went through had brought him to an experience of God. That has been the experience of people in every age. That is why we believe that all events, however harsh and cruel as some of them may appear to be at the time of happening, are under the control of God and become the means of bringing a blessing on those who trust in God. God can turn defeat into victory, loss into gain and a setback or disappointment into an opportunity for further advancement to those who trust Him.

In the Collect we pray for the removal of all hurtful things and the granting of those things which are profitable to us. It is natural for us to think of accident, disease, disaster and disappointment as hurtful, and of peace, prosperity, health and happiness as profitable. But it is the experience of men that even things that were considered to be hurtful at first, turned out well eventually. St. Paul was one who faced life at its worst and yet he was able to say when he looked back on his life: ‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ Yes, all things – things that are helpful, as well as things that are hurtful; all things work together for good to them that love God.

The recent outburst of violence in the country has come to us as a shock. We have lost the sense of security that we have enjoyed these many years. Today we are looking upon what has happened as a national calamity. This has been caused by the wickedness of men and is certainly not the will of God. But we still believe that God orders all things both in heaven and on earth. Even this calamity can turn out to be for our good if we trust in Him and set out to turn defeat into victory, and what appears to be hurtful into what may become profitable. Perhaps 50 years hence we may look back on this event and say, ‘It is good there was the outburst of violence in 1958. See what good has come to our people as a result of it. There is a new spirit of service and sacrifice and a firmer trust and confidence in God. Our prayer should be that this calamity be the occasion to bring us into closer contact with God.

We pray that God may remove from us all hurtful things and grant all things profitable for us. Things are not in themselves hurtful or profitable in any final sense. They receive their final character from the use that is made of them. So when we pray that God may remove from us things hurtful to us and give us only things profitable to us, we are only praying for ourselves, that God may guide us to make everything that happens to us to be profitable to us.