A little fellow had set his heart upon having a pocket-knife, and pestered his parents about it so persistently that at last they yielded and allowed him to have his own way, and spend his shilling upon the coveted treasure. It was not long before he had cut his fingers very badly with it, and then he turned on his father and said, "You ought not to have let me buy it."
When we heard the story we were reminded of some who when they fall into any trouble always cast the blame directly upon God. "Why," say they, "did God allow this to happen?" This is a question that is being asked by many in regard to this desolating war. "Why does God allow it to continue?"
The fact is that all trouble in this world is the result of sin being here, and especially may this be said in regard to this almost world-wide war. Sin is lawlessness — independence of God, the determination of men to go their own way without reference to His will in any matter. If men are determined to please themselves, like the boy with the knife, and, in spite of the warnings and entreaties of God's Word, will persist in the refusal of His will, and of the way that He points out to them as the way "of pleasantness and peace," how can they complain if they reap the harvest of their own sowing? "God is not mocked" and men cannot flout His will and then expect that He will shield them from the consequences of their folly. "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices." Thus it is written in the Word of God, and His Word cannot fail.
If men in this time of trouble would turn to God, not to blame Him for the consequences of their own folly, not to link up His name impiously with their own sinful ambitions and devilish schemes, but to hallow His name by acknowledging that He is just in all His dealings with them, and that His way is always right, and to repent before Him because of their waywardness and sin, then they would immediately find Him to be a very present help in time of trouble, for none ever called on His name in vain.
None of us can do his own will and expect to be immune from the consequences, but blessed it is to know that there is forgiveness with Him that He might be feared, and though the cut fingers may not be immediately healed, yet the heart may be comforted by God's grace, and the valuable lesson learnt, that His way is better than ours. "Whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:33).