The Pattern That Underlies All Things

There are disturbing times in the lives of all of us, sometimes because of personal problems, sometimes because of the problems of the world in general, and sometimes because of our perplexity as to life itself. Often questions cry out: Here am I in the midst of the universe. What part of it am I? What purpose underlies it all? In times of peace and of happiness, in times of our own personal well-being, the answer sometimes seem nearer⎯or perhaps the question troubles us less. But in times of sorrow or of conflict, or when our own personal problems are overpowering, many of us ask where order and purpose have gone, and sometimes seem to find no answer. And some of us are inclined to make things even more difficult by fighting irrevocable facts, and by refusing to be reconciled. Those who can find and fit into a pattern that meets the conditions and satisfies the questions of life, can endure all things with faith and fortitude. But if our philosophy fails when we need it most, if it breaks up under pressure, then indeed we have cause to be tried and troubled. But of this we may be sure: There is a pattern that underlies all things. Its Designer and Directing Force is that same God who made the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. And no matter how confused the issues sometimes seem, and no matter how depressed we sometimes become, out of the chaos, our of the confusion, out of the seeming contradiction, will come peace and order and understanding, in the Lord’s own time, in that quiet which follows the storm, no matter how long or violent the storm has been. And those who grope falteringly, and those who see but dimly, and those who see far and clearly, will find in common the comfort of these words: “For as the heavens are higher then the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts…”¹ saith the Lord. “Be still, and know that I am God.”²