How Much May We Expect of Men?

In our efforts to find a solution for our perplexing problems, we sometimes appoint people to various positions, give them credentials, and send them off to their assignments, earnestly hoping that, without much more effort on our part, they will find a safe and sure solution to the problems that plague us. We often expect much of men. And there is much that sincere and able and honest men can do. But we would do well to remember that men, after all, are men. And to emphasize this fact, suppose that all of you ask yourselves this question: If the world’s pressing problems were in your hands waiting to be set right, just what would you do? What would be your answer to all of the unanswered questions of our time? This is a grave question. And remember that your answer must be practicable and workable and that it must be ready right now, and that it cannot and must not fail. Suppose that if your answer fails, the world is at war again, and that men, with more physical force than they have ever had, are again doing their best to exterminate each other. And remember, too, that you are only a man with the wisdom of a man, even as are all other men. Some men are wiser than others; some are more able than others; some have broader knowledge of the ways of the world. But all of them are men. All of them have limitations. All of them make mistakes. None of them is infallible. And so suppose you put yourself in the place of those who have the problems of the world upon their shoulders. And suppose even though you are sincerely seeking a solution, you are facing other men who are not thinking as you are thinking. When you face these facts, you may realize how urgently men need Higher help as they ponder the problems of the world. And you may then well know how much they need our earnest prayers, and how urgently they need insight and inspiration; for mere men, without any Higher help, are woefully inadequate. But by the prayers of all people, by repentance, by the guidance of the Lord God, and by pursuing the paths of the Prince of Peace, men may have right and reason to expect the answers to their perplexing problems.