Perilous Times – Sunday, July 7, 1940
One of the seemingly unfortunate circumstances of life is the manner in which the innocent are called upon to suffer with guilty. If misfortune came only to those who were responsible for it, we would welcome it as an avenging angel, but, in the complexity of our living, trouble visits whom it will, and when it is started in once place, it travels to another. Dishonesty in high places causes misery all down the line.
The failure of a financial institution, the misuse of public funds, the inroads of a racketeer, the wild careening of a drunken driver, or the perpetration of a war, spread hurt and sorrow and human suffering far beyond the province of those who are directly responsible. We would ofttimes be led to think upon the unfairness of life except for our unshakeable faith in the unfailing wisdom and justice of God, our Heavenly Father. Neither here nor hereafter shall we ever find any innocent victim of an evil, who would be willing to change places with the man by whom the evil was set upon its course. To carry a conscience of guilt around in this life is punishment enough through all the sleeping and waking hours of those who have it. And then, after that, add upon this present punishment those things that shall transpire before the judgement bar of God—and we have ample justice by way of penalties for the guilty and sure compensation for those who suffer unjustly by the hand of others.
The week just past has seen commorated again those traditions of liberty and freedom which have been purchased at such great cost, and which it seems must be maintained at great cost, also. For this heritage we are grateful without taking it for granted, and may we not make the fatal mistake of supposing that these things can be permanently ours without price and without sacrifice. The troubles of the world about us have brought home to us the perishable nature of liberty when it is not safeguarded, and the blessed sweetness of it when it is. Paul foresaw such times as these across the wide centuries when, writing to Timothy, he said: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (II Timothy 3:1-5) That such things are prevalent we cannot deny, but this land of promise can steer a safe course through the troubled waters if men will humble themselves before God, dedicate themselves to righteousness, and bring both the spirit and practice of worship into operation in their daily lives, not merely being content with observance of its outward form.
July 7, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,568