The Providence Of God
Romans 8:18-28 "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it]. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.."
We live in a nation and a world that has gone gambling mad. We can lay claim to the dubious honor of having the highest incidence of gambling in every form and format of any people upon earth. We can boast of the highest per capita gambling expenditure in all the world. We can also proudly point to the resultant highest rate of gambling addiction leading to the most severe socioeconomic problems one might imagine. It is indeed refreshing that one parlaimentarian is demanding something be done about the proliferation of poker machines in the nation and there seems to be a debate going on about the addictive harm of gambling.
It seems those who advocate such soul destroying activity view life as just a matter of fortune or luck. It does seem we live in a world that assumes that life is just one great lottery. That anything that happens is the luck of the draw.
Do you believe in luck? Good or bad? Have you ever considered yourself to be lucky? Have you ever said to someone who was facing a crisis or an important moment in life, "Good luck!" Such terminology should not grace a Christian's speech. Why? Because it attributes the good things that happen in this world to an imagined god of luck. In doing so, it denies that our Creator God is sovereign and the author and giver of all good things: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." (James 1:17-18)
We who are His children know that life's not like that. We know that our Father is a God of providence. We know the real truth of Paul's statement when he said, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.."
But just what is providence? How is it to be defined? I like this definition I ran across recently, "God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not in any wise to be the author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures."
An illustration of such providence can be found in this true story published by Paul Harvey a number of years ago:
"Normally all the choir members came early to Wednesday night practice at West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska. But one night, March 1, 1950, they all had excuses for being late. The church pianist overslept on her after-dinner nap, so she and her mother were late. A high school sophomore was having trouble with her homework. One couple couldn't get their car started. They, and those they were to pick up, were subsequently late. All eighteen choir members, including the pastor and his wife, were late. All had good excuses. At 7:30, the time the choir rehearsal was to begin, not one soul was in the choir loft. This had never happened before. At precisely the time at which the choir would have been singing, the gas leak was ignited by the church furnace and the whole church blew up. The furnace room was right below the choir loft!"
"How lucky," some would say. "Weren't they fortunate," others would respond. But even the laws of mathematical probabilities would lead even the most sceptical to consider that there was something at work in this situation that was more than mere happenstance. It would seem to a reasonable person that God in His wonderful providence had been gracious to His children.
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD MEANS GOD IS IN CHARGE AND HAS FULL CONTROL. Of course, this goes against the grain of prideful man. He wishes to assume that he is the master of his own fate. He's convinced that he is captain of his own soul. He is perfectly content to believe he rows his own boat down the river of life. He feels he will sail his own ship safely to the other side of the shore of eternity. He deigns to dare to defy the providence of God and attribute his success or failure in life to either his own efforts or the luck of the draw.
But the Word of God contradicts man's prideful philosophy. The entire history of the people of God as written in the Word of God is a confirmation of God's providence and good intent for His people. It is the providence of God that has always ruled in the affairs of men, both great and small, to progressively bring to pass His eternal purpose. God is always on His throne and we can be sure that all will be ultimately right with His world. His kingdom shall come and His will shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. He, "works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).
In things both great and small God has always ruled over all. Who would believe it was mere luck that preserved the life of a small babe floating in a papyrus ark in the bulrushes of the Nile? A babe who, when grown up, would reject the most powerful position in the most powerful empire on earth; ultimately becoming the Lawgiver of a small nation of despised nomadic people? Who would dare assert it was pure chance that placed Joseph in Egypt at the absolutely critical moment of salvation for God's people? Even Joseph recognized the movement of the hand of God's providence in the momentous events of his life and the life of his people, He told his brothers, "You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good." (Genesis 50:20).
Who could deny the obviously providential, pivotal and powerful role those such as Joseph, Daniel and Esther played in the rise and fall of emperors and empires? It seems even they were acutely aware of the part played by the providence of God in their contemporary world, "He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings" (Daniel 2:21) One can but wonder in awe when reading of four anonymous lepers who, being moved by the natural urges of self-preservation, were mightily and providentially used by a God of providence to save His people from the desperate straits of suffering and starvation. (II Kings 7:3-11)
History outside the Bible also confirms again and again the working the providence of God in the affairs of men to enthrone and dethrone rulers and raise up and raze down kingdoms and empires. Such incidents are too many and too widely know and familiar to dwell upon. Such sayings as, "For want of a nail the shoe was lost . . . " and "My kingdom for a horse . ." amply speak to the commonality of such occurrences. On the occasion of the framing of the constitution of a new nation Benjamin Franklin made this comment on the matter of providence, "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of man; and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"
But the providence of God is not only concerned with the momentous affairs of history, but is just as applicable to the mundane affairs of the smallest of His creatures. Our Savior assured us of this when He said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matt. 10:29-31) This is one of the most thrilling aspects of the providence of God. He knows each of His own and cares for us specifically. After all, has He not told us that our names are engraved in His hand and in the Lamb's book and are not our times in His hand as well. Did He not appoint the time and boundaries of our arrival, sojourn and departure from this earth? (Psalm 139)
Our Savior tells us to remember God's gracious providence when we are prone to be burdened down with the worries and concerns of this world. ""Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (Matthew 6:31-32)
Our common sayings in the land down under, "Not to worry .." and "She'll be right mate..." take on true and scriptural connotations for the Christian when considered in the light of the providence of God. When we really believe that, "...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.." We can truly relax because we know "...that underneath are the everlasting arms .. ." In times of stress we can accept that, ". . .: weeping may endure for a night, but joy [cometh] in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)
But does the glorious providence of God guarantee the Christian immunity from trouble?
Although Jesus said we could come to Him to have life more abundantly, He wasn't inferring that life would be a rose garden or that we would be borne to heaven on flowery beds of ease. Those who have said life isn't meant to be easy, even for the Christian, have been proven to be right.
But just why is this so? Jesus says that in this world we shall have trouble, after all, didn't He? We are, as Paul said, in the world, but are not of the world. This world is not our home. We are just sojourners, pilgrims, seeking a city whose build and maker is God. Paul envisioned us as colonizers in the Phillipian letter. And as ambassadors and living love letters from heaven in his Corinthian letters. As the old saying goes, we are cannot hold on to God with one hand and the world with the other. We cannot be neutral, Jesus said. (Matt. 6:24) God is asking us to take a stand for Him in this world. You see Jesus called it like it was.. He hewed right down the line. He surely would upset the proponents of a wishy-washy, mealymouthed, power of the positive gospel today.
The tug of the world and the pull of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in the opposite direction guarantees inevitable trouble for a Christian. Experientially we can all confirm the veracity of Job's statement that man is born for trouble. He's often caught up in the geography of circumstance and finds himself surrounded by the meteorology of trouble. He frequently feels the heat of the crucible of crisis. He's dropped into the test tube of trial. He's called upon to navigate the shoals of loss and sorrow. He tries desperately to avoid the rocks of spiritual shipwreck and disaster.
Sometimes the storms of life arise from within. Sometimes terrible squalls blow up over the horizon of friendship. A cyclone will be howling before he has half a chance to batten down his personal hatches. It can come from any quarter. Natural disasters, accidents, enemies, strangers, family, so-called Christian brothers or even his church. He too often finds the old cliche, "Hell is people," too close to the mark. Because people are often the tool Satan uses to overwhelm him. So often he finds there is no easy way to build a detour around sorrow or tragedy, but we must go through and come out safely on the other side. The three Hebrew children were not saved out of the fiery furnace, but in it. The lives of Daniel, David and all the patriarchs of the Old and New Testaments confirm the universality of this dilemma
In his Roman letter Paul gives a liturgy of the terrible trials he went through and the sort of tragic occurrences the Christian may expect in life. He gives no indication any will escape, but that by suffering we become more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
So how can we be conquerors and overcomers as we inevitable encounter the terrible troubles, trials and testings that threaten all Christians? Jesus said to his disciples who were weak, defeated and afraid in the face of such a storm, "Oh, ye of little faith!" He would continually and consistently say, "Be not afraid." (John 14:1-3, 16:33, Matt. 10:31 etc.)
Perhaps it is because faith is the real victory that overcomes the world. In the great faith chapter the writer speaks of faith as the common operative in all the examples given. As he begins his great roll call of faith (faithful ones), he first defines real operative faith as being the evidential spiritual reality that gives real substance to the Christian life. Then he emphasizes the absolutely necessity of its operation. (Hebrews ll:6) I understand the original (amin) strongly implies that he who has such faith operating in his life just doesn't simply believe that God is (theism), but must absolutely accept that God is operating in the universe and in his life.
Not that He just sets laws in motion and then steps back, scratches his head and speculates about the outcome. A little later in his letter the writer assures us that those who have such faith can approach God (and life) with great confidence in times of trouble. (Heb. 4:15-16) I understand the original (para ramah) could be understood to mean that we can tell Him everything, holding back nothing. Psychologist call this ventilation and say it has great therapeutic benefit. Every Christian knows the practical value of this. The time of his greatest trouble is the time he most needs to let go and let God.
So absolute faith and trust in God is the basic fact in any formula that would enable us to navigate the shoals of trials, avoid the rocks of disaster and survive the storms of trouble in our Christian life. But how can we place the formula into effect? How can we trust?
We can trust the thoughts of God. Why? Because the overriding providence of God is based on the obvious premise that He knows everything. I think it's significant that when Jesus chided Peter for not trusting Him, He gently led Peter to say, "Lord you know I love you... you know everything!" Of course, it would have been better if Peter had learned this lesson earlier. But someone has said about we mortal beings, "Experience is a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."
If we could only have God's omniscient perspective of life we could survive any situation.
The illustration of the contrast of watching a parade from a street corner or high above in an airship is especially apt here. God certainly knows the beginning from the end and all that passes in between. We can trust the thoughts of God.
We can trust the techniques of God. Thanks be unto God, He, in His providence, does not always do things our way. Israel traveled about seven hundred miles in forty years. About twenty miles a year. That's slow going in anyone's book. But God's technique of chastening and cleansing was obvious the right way. You see, our Lord knew the way in the wilderness and all they had to do was follow. And then there is the stories of Joshua and Joseph. The Word of God is replete with examples of those who trusted absolutely in the techniques of God and survived as victors in times of trouble!
God taught me a very vital and meaningful lesson in this area many years ago. I was hospitalized for nearly three weeks with an extreme life threatening situation. In fact, I consciously hovered on the very edge of eternity on occasion. I came face to face with the real possibility of going home to be with the Lord; leaving my dear wife behind to cope with caring for our four small children. As a young pastor, I must confess I had some questions about the whole matter. What was God doing in my life? Why was this happening to me?
God provided me with excellent care; including a dedicated young night shift nurse who on one occasion saved my life by raising a "stat" alarm. Her obvious care and concern formed a bond of friendship that enabled me to share the gospel of Christ with her along the way. Just before I was released from hospital, about three o'clock one morning, she knelt beside my bed and poured out her heart to God and accepted Christ as her personal Savior. Although I cannot remember her name nor even visualize her face, I truly believe I will see her in heaven some day. Yes, we can trust the techniques of God!
We can trust the timing of God. Is our time not in His Hand? Is not this the day the Lord has made? Should we not be glad and rejoice in it? Let us look again at the patriarchs of old. Noah being ridiculed by the scoffers, Moses on the backside of the desert, Joseph down in Egypt. But time would pass. Their day would come. Yes, again, Joseph said it all when he told his brothers that they had meant it all for evil, but that God (in His time) had meant it for good.
Most of us can look back in retrospect and see critical providential crooks, bends and turns in the river of our life. We are convinced of the providential hand of God working in a powerful and positive way to guide us along His way. I could speak at length and in detail about such occurrences. I could tell of a wrong number that turned out to be a right number and resulted in contact with the right choice of a help meet for life. I could share about an even more unlikely phone call that deterred me from pusuing a permanent career as an officer in the Air Force. Most of us have known such events incidents and we know that the odds against these being pure accidents are overwhelming. We are convinced it was God, " . . work(ing) all things according to the counsel of His will"
There are so many examples of the providence of God's time in the Bible. Just think of a ram wandering in a wilderness and being caught by its horns in the bushes. Or a lowly and insignificant donkey dying and the hand of a mighty man of God slaying one thousand of God's enemies with its weathered bone in his hand.. Or another donkey that bore real Royalty. And then there's five smooth stones worn by the waters of a brook. Think of the day a Roman soldier went out and felled a tree that would become a rugged, cruel cross. Are any of these accidents? No! We can trust the thoughts, time and techniques of our Great God of PROVIDENCE!
