Hope for Hard Times (1 of 3)
Series: The Invisible Hand
Scott Maze
Ruth 1:1-22
Our nation's first President had a different way of looking at life and you could see it in his very first inaugural address. Had you been in the relatively small crowd to hear Washington's Inaugural address some 230 plus years ago, you would have been surprised at how visibly nervous Washington was giving the speech. Fresh off the heels of his victory over the British in the Revolutionary War, ''The Father of his Country'' spoke in a quiet voice that was difficult to hear at times. Only a few hundred Senators and Congressmen heard our first President at Federal Hall at half past noon in New York City on April 30, 1789. And perhaps his most memorable line of his address, Washington spoke of the Invisible Hand. Listen carefully to our first President's words: ''No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.''
When Washington says ''Invisible Hand,'' he speaks of God's intervention in our lives. Washington viewed his personal life as well as the events surrounding our nation as being moved by the Invisible Hand of Providence.
And it wasn't just Washington that believed in the Invisible Hand. Men such as Benjamin Franklin did as well. Though Franklin was no believer, he maintained, ''I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?'' The founding fathers viewed life very differently.
How do you see your life? Do you see God's invisible hand moving about in our day? Do you see His invisible hand behind you landing y ...
Series: The Invisible Hand
Scott Maze
Ruth 1:1-22
Our nation's first President had a different way of looking at life and you could see it in his very first inaugural address. Had you been in the relatively small crowd to hear Washington's Inaugural address some 230 plus years ago, you would have been surprised at how visibly nervous Washington was giving the speech. Fresh off the heels of his victory over the British in the Revolutionary War, ''The Father of his Country'' spoke in a quiet voice that was difficult to hear at times. Only a few hundred Senators and Congressmen heard our first President at Federal Hall at half past noon in New York City on April 30, 1789. And perhaps his most memorable line of his address, Washington spoke of the Invisible Hand. Listen carefully to our first President's words: ''No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.''
When Washington says ''Invisible Hand,'' he speaks of God's intervention in our lives. Washington viewed his personal life as well as the events surrounding our nation as being moved by the Invisible Hand of Providence.
And it wasn't just Washington that believed in the Invisible Hand. Men such as Benjamin Franklin did as well. Though Franklin was no believer, he maintained, ''I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?'' The founding fathers viewed life very differently.
How do you see your life? Do you see God's invisible hand moving about in our day? Do you see His invisible hand behind you landing y ...
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