"Oh, where is the sea?", the fishes cried,
As they swam the Atlantic waters through;
"We've heard of the sea and the ocean tide
And we long to gaze on it's waters blue"

All around us are little fishes looking for the sea; people living, moving, having their being in an ocean of God's providence, but who can't see the ocean for the water. Maybe it's because we call it by another name. The ancient Hebrews from whom the Bible came were a religious people. They thought in religious patterns, they spoke in religious phrases, they saw in every event the direct activity of God. It rained, it was God who sent the rain. When crops were good, it was God who yielded the increase. But that is not our language, nor our pattern of thought. We think in terms of law - chemical, natural law. When it rains we know that it is a natural conensation of vapor. When crops are good we credit it to the fertilizer. An amazing thing has happened in our way of thinking that leaves no room for Him. So many of our wants are provided by what seems natural and impersonal forces that we have lost sight of the Great Provider in the midst of providence. Some of us who were brought up in the country and then later moved to the city remember how easy it was to get out of the habit of returning thanks at the table, partly because the food on it came not directly from the earth but from the grocery store. A physician in New York City said, "If you ask a child where milk comes from, he won't think of saying 'from a cow' He will say 'From a container'.

J. Wallace Hamilton