The nations rage and the people imagine a vain thing, when has this not been the case? The sea rages in the storm and the mire is cast up, at which time has this not been the case? Wars plague the continents, and rumors of war cause all men to faint in their exertions for earthly peace, how much more this will be the case in the latter days! Young people, look around yourselves at the activities of men on the face of the earth — it is all movement today. And examine the anarchy that is in our immediate situation (the TV tubes are full of it) for we live in a country which has endless ambitions for a world peace, this is a dream that grows almost daily. The United States government has a great desire to spread “democracy” to all nations. It also desires to control not only people generally but also their goods, their education, their propagation, their finances, the sciences so that the elements of the earth are at their command. Consider the educational structures with their tenets of uniformitarian philosophy and its evolutionary principles. And briefly view the church which is so full of the dead strivers of the breed of Esau, who hate the truth and those who propagate it.

Young people, forget your job for a few minutes, the car, that movie, that party and those plans which you have for increasing your position in the world and study that world through the eyes which are enlightened that you may know what is the hope of your calling. That is the only way you will see that these things are the revelation of the counsel of God. We know that all these things tend to the end which God has set; that is, the glory of His NAME and the vindication of His covenant. And in this situation which exists now: what is your confession? Is it silence; or is it compromise; or is it contradiction and judgment? We hope that it is the confession of the Psalmist who wrote, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalm 12; 1-3) So we read of the experiences of one who understood that the living God was his portion and, therefore, to know Him was to him life. Young people, if this is indeed our experience and delight, then we shall suffer the afflictions of Christ in the present age. And that is our desire according to the new man.

We read in the above that this Psalmist even though he sought to be faithful to God was certainly not received as one of the representatives of God in the world. Indeed, to our amazement, it is just the contrary! They say to him in their gross haughtiness and stubborn pride, “Where is thy God?” And we read in verse 10 that that reproach entered the bones of the Psalmist as a sword. (This is centrally the subjective experience of Jesus Christ and as His people are created in His image they suffer the same reproach.) And as a result of this particular reproach the Psalmist was so pricked that in verse 2 of the next Psalm that he asks the Lord, “Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” Is this the case, that the Lord has indeed cast off his people? The apostle asks the same question in Horn. 11:1 and answers it thus, “God forbid! . . . God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” This is also the case today when it seems that truth is vanquished for the main part and that God apparently continues to sleep even though his people flee from the battle. One can scarcely open his mouth and he is criticized by the nominal people of God with words such as these: “Oh, you have a monopoly of the truth-hell?,” “Such a God I cannot conceive of!,” “We will see how long you last!,” “Oh you know so much about this God, why does He not deal with the gross social injustices and the wars?” All these and many more are perpetually on the lips of our enemies. If you do not believe it tell those around you once that we are the people who confess that God is not only Sovereign but that HE causes these things to come about and that the only purpose is to glorify his own NAME in effectually gathering his people. The elect only, and that that is the purpose of preaching the gospel from a positive viewpoint. Ah! then you will see how ready the world and the modem church is to receive the Christ and to crown him Lord of all. You will begin to see plainly that even though man in their eyes is always developing, he still hates the God of our fathers and is not ready to leave his life of corruption at all.

But why are there these two warring factions on the earth? Only for one real purpose and that is that the people of God may learn to say in the midst of the spiritual battle, “When shall I see God, the living God?” When? That is the question. So grieved is the man of God by these things that he can no longer find any satisfaction in the present life. Further, every day and night his tears become his meat so disconsolate is he. His soul groans from the spiritual battle of life and groans for the final deliverance. He can think of one thing only: “When shall I appear before the living God?”

When shall I see Him who is my very life? When shall that God, my God, vindicate me in the face of all his and my enemies? And that young people is our experience in the world. And how well we know that in this place where it seems that all men go mad in their pursuit of the ungodly mammon, which shall surely perish. Yet, in spite of all this, we say with the Psalmist, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”