"The Lord God is the true God, the Living God and an Everlasting King."
He is also our Father. God then is Personal. He is One on Whom we can
lean, to Whom we can pray, whose works we can study in the Universe He
has made and in the history of men and of nations which He controls.
This is the first truth of God our Father that comes home to us when we
learn the Lord's Prayer. It is also the last and most profound that we
shall rejoice in when we meet Him face to face, and know Him as we are
known.
It is a truth of vital and practical importance, affecting our whole
outlook on life. Because God is Personal with mind and heart and will
we believe that this great world has a plan on which it is being
fashioned and a purpose towards which it is tending. Within this plan
and purpose we too have a place, and no mean place. We too are persons
with minds and hearts and wills. We are not then mere straws on the
stream of destiny, or victims of blind fate. We are children of our
Father Who is working in and through all mightily in wisdom and in love.
This is not a theory only; it is true to the experience of religious
men. In it is found the secret of confidence, strength and joy. It is
the infinite and varied record of this experience which the Psalms
contain that gives to them their special value for our use today.
"Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, O give me understanding that
I may live. Be Thou my stronghold whereunto I may always resort, for
Thou art my house of defence and my castle. The Lord is my shepherd
therefore can I lack nothing. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The Lord is the strength of my life. Who so dwelleth under the defence
of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
In a faith like this we can face our duty manfully. In life's
responsibilities and perplexities we can trust our Father.