With corruption and greed everywhere, crime and depravity, distrust among friends and colleagues, it may be hard to see how God's providence is working out for the best.
But there has always been corruption.
God's will for the world is not that He waves a magic wand and suddenly everything is perfect.
The burden of responsibility is on our shoulders to ensure we arrive at a perfect "state of faith" of our own free will.
Then the perfect world follows.
There is always a bright light in the world, no matter how bad things get.
There is always hope, and that hope is the continuing renewal of the Holy Spirit in us, ensuring that no matter what, the best of all possible worlds is on its way.
While we may not be living in a perfect world, yet within each individual is the seed of perfection waiting to grow.
We yearn to be part of God's perfect plan, yet our natures forbid it.
We are impatient and stubborn and prefer to seek immediate and petty reward rather than wait for the eternal riches that have been stored away for us.
As populations increase, as technology continues to pollute the environment, so it becomes harder to focus on what is good about life.
But a five minute conversation with a good friend is sufficient to reveal the light that is always there, inextinguishable, patient, waiting.
The light, the hope of regeneration, renewal, reawakening, is all we have to guide us through the darkness.
When we sleep at night, we dream of this renewal.
We dream of a better world.
When we wake we feel again that sense of powerlessness.
But we are not powerless.
Jesus is our power.
By turning on the light that is within each of us, activating the spirit of compassion, of hope, of community, we can illuminate the paths we walk on, and see that a better world is possible.
The act of doing that, of one individual taking action, is enough to make the new world a reality.
The magic of Christian values is that they work automatically.
It only requires one act of faith to switch on the light.
So this is the best possible world we can have, given the state of our faith at this moment in time.
There are things we can approve of, but many things which disgust us.
But if we can all switch on one small light each, we will bring corruption to its knees, and the power of Christ lives again.