A little acquaintance with our own hearts will force us to acknowledge that there is no hope within us,
and the briefest glance around should show us that we need expect no help from without.
Nature itself will teach us that (apart from God) we are but orphans of the creation, waifs of the wide spaces, caught helpless amid the whirl of forces too great to comprehend.
Onward through this world roars an immense and sightless power leaving in its wake generations, cities, civilizations.
The earth, our brief home, offers us at last only a grave.
For us there is nothing safe, nothing kind.
In the Lord there is mercy, but in the world there is none,
for nature and life move on as if unaware of good or evil,
of human sorrow
or human pain.
The Divine Conquest p.56
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963)