Driving Home The Point That All Is In God's Hands

We left off last time with the point that all is in God's Hands. Today we drive that point home to be sure it's not lost in the swirl of demands and distractions that will likely wash over us as we begin the work day.

Father Gerald Van, O.P. kicks things off: 

“Omnia in manu Dei sunt: all things are in the hand of God. Have you noticed how the saints always seem to be at their gayest when things go wrong? And why is it? Surely because they have just that faith in the plan, and in the Love that makes the plan. And when there is suffering for them, well, that too is part of the plan, and so to suffer is for them a privilege: it is part of that total work which is the saving of mankind, the song of love. And so they never waste time and energy brooding over the past or fussing over the future: they live in the present, they get on the immediate job that God gives them to do; and they leave lovingly in His hands the question of whether it shall be a success or a failure. 

“They live in the present. So often we forget the importance of each present moment: so fleeting that it seems of no importance, and yet, as we know, it is forever present to the eternity of God, forever present as an act of love and praise, or as a wastage and perhaps a betrayal. Live in the present: at this moment it is this job, this pain, this joy, that God gives me: then let me make of it as full and deep an act of praise as I can. So you cease to fret and worry, and so you find peace. Sometimes of course the job of the moment is the business of coping with worries; but worries are not the same thing as worrying; we cannot escape problems, but if they are God’s will for us, well, we can accept them as such and do our best with them without letting ourselves get hopelessly flustered, and the very willing of them as God’s will can in that case be a kind of peace.”

We came across this sage advice just when the usual swirl of demands and distractions from not only daily work but also domestic life seemed to suddenly grow from mole hill to mountain. The sight of this froze me for a bit, like a deer in headlights. It all seemed simply too much. Did I turn to the Lord, trust in Him? Well, yes, in my own bumbling way. But these words landing in my in box drove the point home, where my own efforts flagged a bit. The Hand of God?

Two key points: that all things, as in ALL THINGS, are in God's Hands. There's no getting around this. It must be understood fully. More so, it must be embraced with joy. The other point: Live in the Present Moment. Okay, so the saints got all this, and maybe many of us aren't quite saints yet. But we know we should be striving to be saints, and what better way but to emulate these holy examples, sent by God, to teach and inspire us?

Then, as only God can manage it, Psalm 126 arrived in my daily reading - in order - of the Psalms. It drove the point home even harder. And, being the Word of God, it first commanded full attention, then urged complete acceptance. No two ways about it. Talk about driving a point home!

When we read/pray Psalm 126, it pretty much makes the fact that all is in God's Hands rock solid. It does this by making sure that we realize that unless God is in and behind all our work, our work is in vain. And it doesn't pull any punches in asserting this.

Oh, and note that the note beneath the Psalm's words are from the Douay Rheims translation. We included it especially for those of us who have developed the discipline of early rising to get our day started.  

1 Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.  2 It is vain for you to rise before light, rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved, 3 Behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb.  4 As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.  5 Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.

[2] "It is vain for you to rise before light": That is, your early rising, your labour and worldly solicitude, will be vain, that is, will avail you nothing, without the light, grace, and blessing of God.