The Providence of God Part 2

Last time, we looked into what the providence of God looks like and what it entails. We saw the providence of God with Abraham and Isaac, the plight of Joseph and his brothers, and myself meeting Demetra to accomplish a plan of His. We saw that throughout the Scriptures, God always has a purpose for how He desires to accomplish things, and He sees to it that His overall plan will come about as He desires. Isaiah 46:10,11, "My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. What I have said, that I will bring about, what I have planned, that will I do."

Looking to the Puritans for a definition of providence, we can turn to Obadiah Sedgwick: "Divine providence is an external action of God whereby He conserves and governs all things wisely, holily, justly, and powerfully to the admiration of His own glory". Isn't that just like God! An infinitely wise One, the Creator and Sustainer of all, the One who had no beginning or end, who knows the end from the beginning, the One who rejoices over us for our good, is the One we should always make much of, the infinitely valuable One to us, our all-satisfying Treasure. There is no one like Him! Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! How great is our God! He is our God whose infinite power is directed by His infinite wisdom, His infinite wisdom being directed by His infinite knowledge, and His infinite knowledge being directed by His infinite truth. Man may be called wise, merciful, and mighty, but our God is all-wise, all-merciful, and almighty!

English Puritan Thomas Goodwin states, "He plotteth everything beforehand...Nothing falleth out but what He had laid the plot before. God's will shall stand, it shall not be resisted (Psalm 135:6).  God's providence includes very small creatures (Matt.10:30), chance events (Prov.16:33), and the choices of men (Exo.34:24). The counsel of God is His "mature pitching upon what is best", or "a certain judgement of what is best to do," which God is uniquely qualified to do (Isa.28:29).  Even in what we call secondary causes, God works and rules in and through things to accomplish His purposes for His glory like ax heads flying off handles (Deu.19:4,5). He is somehow in control of all that happens to us, it is a mystery to how that is. The Psalmist David states in Psalm 57:2, "I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me."

But we need to look at the blessings God orchestrates for us on the other side of some of the faith-testing challenges we are challenged with. In time "God demonstrated His own love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8).  What greater blessing than the Father choosing us from all eternity for eternal life (Eph.1:4), having eternal life with our reconciling Savior and to be with Him one day in heaven in a place Jesus called Paradise (Luke 23:43), and He making His continual abode with us by the Holy Spirit (John 14:17).  Blessings like marriage, family, friends that have crossed our paths are only that from what His infinite wisdom judges best and most beneficial for us will take place. We have enough in this world, if we had more of it our heads and hearts may not be able to manage those things to our good and advantage. For our spiritual maturity does everything come, to become more conformed into the likeness and image of Jesus. That we may have more of His beauty in our character, that we may have more of His truth in our hearts, and that we may have more of His love in our hearts than a year ago, than five years ago etc. Next time, Lord willing, we will look into our submission to God's Providence.

Elder Randy Slak