“Daddy, do the whole world belong to God?” a four-year-old Georgia Democrat inquired.

“Yes,” his father told him.

“Well, why doesn’t He get the President to run it for Him?”

We smile at that. But it brought to mind something to which, I think, we need to give sober thought.

Whenever a ruler comes along and catches the popular fancy, the tendency is to hail him as a messiah. But however widely and enthusiastically a ruler may be acclaimed, and however high the expectations he arouses in the populace, it is well for us to remember that he is just a human being. He may be able, honest and wise, but he will make mistakes, just as all humans do.

There are no supermen. David prayed, “O Lord, Let the nations know themselves to be but men” (Ps. 9: 20). It seems that the world is looking for some superman to come along who will be able to bring about its salvation. Will men never have the understanding rightly to interpret the lessons of history? Read the history of the best and wisest rulers, and you will find in that history nothing to encourage us to expect the world’s salvation through human leadership and human agencies.

“The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.” That means that the destiny of the world is in the keeping of a higher power and wisdom than humans possess. Our leaders and rulers may be wise or foolish, may help or hinder, but the final issue of things does not rest in their hands. The hand of God is on the helm and pilots the ship of the world’s course and destiny.

If all rulers would recognize this fact and look to God for wisdom and guidance, we would soon see a happier state of things in governmental and world affairs. There would be no more Hitlers leading nations down the path of war and destruction.

How often nations are disappointed in their leaders and governments! But when human leaders and human governments disappoint us, let us not surrender to despair—God still runs the world!