We often hear the phrase—whether winged or perhaps merely crawling—that history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. Perhaps it does not; still, to appreciate what we actually possess, it can be useful to imagine what might have been.
For the psalmist, there is no doubt that if the Lord had not been with them, the people would have been destroyed by their enemies. Need we add that we too could reach the same conclusion?...
Those unwilling to acknowledge His intervention in the course of events prefer to explain every positive development and favorable change by their own efforts, by chance, by a fortunate convergence of circumstances... But those who can look back and discern in the chaos of events a coherent and meaningful path composed of scattered episodes are unlikely to reject the thought of the One who directed that path.
