It is a singular thing that such a question as this should ever be asked at all: “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” If we look anywhere and everywhere, apart from the conduct of man, there is nothing to suggest the suspicion. Look at God’s creation, is there anything that would make you say, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” What pillar of the heavens has begun to reel? What curtain of the sky hath been rent or moth eaten? Have the foundations of the earth begun to start? Do they not abide as the Lord hath settled them? Has the sun grown dim with age, or have the starry lamps flickered or gone out in darkness? Are there signs of decay today upon the face of God’s creation? Have not howling tempests, the yawning ocean, and death­bearing hurricanes, asserted but yesterday their undiminished might?

Say, is not the green earth as full of vitality, as ready to yield us harvests now, as it ever hath been? Do the showers fall less frequently? Hath the sun ceased to warm? Are there any signs and tokens that God’s creation is tottering to its decay? No, journey where you will, you will see God is as potent upon the face of the earth, and in the very bowels of the globe, as He was when He first said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” There is nothing that would tempt us to the surmise, or the suspicion that the Lord’s hand hath waxed short.

Look ye also in providence; is there aught there that would suggest the question? Are not the prophecies still fulfilled? Doth He not cause all things to work together for good? Do the cattle on a thousand hills low out to Him for hunger? Do you meet with the skeletons of birds that have fallen to the ground from famine? Doth He neglect to give to the fish their food, or do the sea-monsters die? Doth not God still open His hand and supply the want of every living thing? Is He less bounteous today than I Ie was in the time of Adam? Is not His cornucopia still as full?

Doth He not still scatter mercies with both His hands right lavishly? Are there any tokens in Providence any more than in Nature that God’s arm hath waxed short?

Look ye too in the matter of Grace: is there any token in the work of grace that God’s power is failing? Are not sinners still saved? Arc not pro­fligates still reclaimed? Are not drunkards still uplifted from their sties to sit upon thrones with princes? Are not harlots as truly reclaimed as were those in the days of Christ?

Is not the Word of God still quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword? Which of His arrows hath been blunted? Where have you seen the sword of the Lord snapped in twain? When hath God assayed to melt a heart and failed in the attempt?

Which of His people has found the riches of His grace drained dry? Which of His children has had to mourn that the unsearchable riches of Christ had failed to supply his need?

In Grace, as well as in Providence and Nature, the unanimous verdict is that God is still Almighty, that He doeth as He wills, and fulfills all His promises and His counsels. How is it, then, that such a question as this ever came from the lips of God Himself? Who suggested it? What suggested it? What could there have been that should lead Him or any of His creatures to say, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” We answer, there is but one creature that God has made that ever doubts Him… It was left for man, the most favored of all creatures, to mistrust his God. bear not, oh trembling pilgrim… your God is still with you, if you believe.’