By all accounts, the Cleveland Orchestra is one of the finest symphony orchestras in America—indeed, even in the world. Founded in 1918, the orchestra’s music has amazed listeners and impressed the toughest critics across the globe for over a century.

What would happen to such a world-renowned group without their conductor at the helm? Surely, each musician is more than capable on their own, but were the conductor deposed in a musical coup, all the harmony that could have resulted from submitting to the score and bowing under the baton of the conductor would be forfeited.

Our world is like an orchestra that has deposed its Conductor. We have been created by God and for God, and He intends us to live under His sovereign direction. Yet we have been separated from God, and we have been scattered in the imagination of our hearts. By nature, we resolve ourselves to play whatever tune we like, shunning the very Conductor who desires to bring us into harmony with Himself and one another.

At the beginning of this decade, the pandemic, economic strain, and racial prejudice have all collided to amplify our discord. Fear has gripped our nation and our world, and the demonstrations that came in the aftermath of George Floyd’s unspeakably brutal and cruel death have highlighted our deep brokenness.

Every pundit has his or her ideas about what will heal our fractures and bring harmony to our society. But what matters most in such tense times as these is that we look to the Conductor. He alone has the hope we so desperately need.

This article has been adapted from the sermon “What God Requires” by Alistair Begg.