We turn now to a consideration of the present relation of this Personal
God presented to us in the Bible, to the world He has created and to
the men whom He has created.
1. In the first place we find that _God sustains, governs and cares
for the world He has created. He shapes the whole present history of
the world._ This comes out again and again. A few illustrations must
suffice. We read in Ps. 104:27-30: +"These wait all for thee, that
thou mayest give them their food in due season. (28) Thou givest unto
them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are satisfied with
good. (29) Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away
their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (30) Thou sendest
forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the
ground."+ And again in Ps. 75:6, 7: +"For neither from the east,
nor from the west, nor yet from the south, cometh lifting up. (7) But
God is the judge: he putteth down one, and lifteth up another."+
All these passages and others that could be cited, set forth the same
conception of God's present relation to the world which He has created.
They show, as we have said, that God sustains, governs and cares for
the work He has created; that He shapes the whole present history of
the world.
2. Now let us look at His relation to the affairs of men. We will find
that _God has a present, personal interest and an active hand in the
affairs of men; that He makes a path for His people and leads them;
that He delivers, saves and punishes_. Here four illustrations from
the Bible must suffice. First of all Joshua 3:10: +"And Joshua said,
Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will
without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite,
and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite,
and the Jebusite."+ Now turn to Dan. 6:20-22, 26, 27. +"And when
he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice:
the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God,
is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from
the lions? (21) Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
(22) My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and
they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in
me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." . . . "(26) I
make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and
fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and stedfast
for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his
dominion shall be even unto the end. (27) He delivereth and rescueth,
and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."+ Now turn to 1 Tim.
4:10: +"For to this end we labour and strive, because we have our
hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially
of them that believe,"+ and now turn to Heb. 10:28-31: +"A man
that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without compassion on the word
of two or three witnesses: (29) Of how much sorer punishment, think
ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son
of God? and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
grace? (30) For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I
will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (31) It is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."+ In all
of these passages we have this same conception of God in His relation
to man, viz., that God has a personal interest and an active hand in
the affairs of men; that He makes a path for His people and leads them;
that He delivers, saves and punishes them.
The God of the Bible is to be clearly distinguished not merely from the
God of the Pantheists who has no existence separate from His creation,
but also from the God of the Deists who has created the world and put
into it all the necessary powers of self-government and development and
set it going and left it to go of itself. The God of the Bible is a God
who is personally and actively present in the affairs of the universe
to-day. He sustains, governs, cares for the world He has created,
He shapes the whole present history of the world. He has a present
personal interest and an active hand in the affairs of men and He it
is that is back of all the events that are occurring to-day. He reigns
and makes even the wrath of men to praise Him, and the remainder of
wrath doth He restrain. The Kaiser may rage, armies may clash, force
and violence and outrage may seem triumphant for the passing hour, but
God stands back of all; and through all the confusion and the discord
and the turmoil and the agony and the ruin, through all the outrageous
atrocities that are making men's hearts stand still with horror, He
is carrying out His own purposes of love and making all things work
together for good to those who love Him.