June 30

Who hath disposed the whole world. - Job 34:13.

IT becomes us to entertain proper apprehensions of him with whom we have to do; and various are the characters by which he is represented in the Scriptures of truth. The most interesting and endearing is, “The Saviour of sinners.” The most awful is, “The Judge of all, who will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” But, besides these, he is the “Maker,” the “Preserver,” he is the “Ruler,” he is the “Disposer” of all; for when Elihu asks, “Who hath disposed the whole world?” we are naturally, we are necessarily, led to him. Let us therefore consider God’s all-disposing agency, and endeavour to improve it:-

“Great God, from thee we spring, to thee we tend;

Our medium, way, original, and end.”

We see Elihu does not refer to an individual, or a family, or a nation only, but to the whole world. He is the Disposer of the whole world of nature. So in the original creation, as related by Moses, it is said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Every thing was arranged with order and with propriety. There was the day and the night, the various species and productions; and when the whole was finished God looked upon all “that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” And then the Psalmist says, “The day is thine; the night also is thine.” “Thou hast made summer and winter; thou hast appointed the moon for seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down.” “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.” What man can produce, man can comprehend. The more we examine a piece of human workmanship the less wonder we feel, because we find it can be understood, and see that it is capable of alterations and improvements, or at least we find it is limited and finite. But it is otherwise with the work of God. Here nothing is superfluous,-nothing wanting, -nothing can be improved. Here we find ourselves not only on the verge of perfection, but also of infinity. “Lift up your eyes on high,” says Isaiah, “and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” What an arrangement is there in all those numbers and immense worlds which God hath created!

Observe their distances and revolutions: even the comet has a prescribed course from which it never deviates. Dr. Young says, “An undevout astronomer is mad.” And David says, “He hangeth the earth upon nothing.” “The earth is full of his goodness.” If we lay down the telescope and take up the microscope, and, after surveying the perfections of God in the grandeur of his works, examine their minuteness, we shall see that “He is wonderful in counsel, and mighty in working.” What perfection is there in the construction of the human frame! what contrivance and adaptation in the eye and ear!

How well may we say, with David, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” If in the arrangement of things in the natural world any thing should appear strange or useless,-for instance, the disproportion between water and land; between the frozen regions and the burning climes; in regard to sandy deserts, ravenous beasts, poisonous reptiles,-let us remember our ignorance, and think how impossible it is for us to ascertain the end and design of many things; so that what we may deem an injury may be a real advantage or excellence. A certain king who studied astronomy thought he could discover some imperfection or irregularities in the system, and said, “If I had been by the Maker of the world when he made it, I would have given him some advice.” Instead of falling into such blasphemy, let us rather say, with Isaiah, “With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment?” “His understanding is infinite.” “I will,” says God, “that men should magnify my works which they behold.” Even we lament there are so few real lovers of nature; and where persons admire it, how often do they pass by the workman while they behold the works! Thus they are found to love and serve the creature more than the Creator. If we are struck with a single instance of God’s arrangement in the world of nature, how much more should we be impressed with the whole, if we were, in a proper state of mind, and if God were in all our thoughts!