God's Providence
1. To The Graduating Class Of 2019
When Michael was asked to speak at the graduation ceremony for Hayworth Christian School, he began thinking about "God's Providence". In those few months he learned more and more about the providence of God. So much, he only used a portion for the graduating class. I asked him to sit in my chair for the next few days and share what he has discovered about "God's Providence". He even wrote a song for the ceremony, which he can also share. I believe you will enjoy this special study of men and women in the Bible and how God worked in their lives, and ways that He is still working in lives today.
2. The Definition of God's Providence
One of the most encouraging things to study in the Bible is God's Providence. In a day when discouragement is all around us, it lifts me up to remember that God is in control. He is still on the throne. As one song writer put it, "His nerves are not shattered, and His hair isn't gray."
So what exactly is God's Providence? The Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia defines it as, "God's activity through His unlimited power and knowledge to fulfill His purpose for the whole creation, including man." In other words, God is all-knowing and has a plan for our lives. He is also all-powerful, so He is able to fulfill that plan. Both God's omniscience and omnipotence are involved in God's Providence, and both work together. The combination of wisdom and power are often missing in the best of men. There have been many men with a lot of wisdom. They had great ideas, but were lacking in the power needed to put their plans into action. Knowledge without power is sad and pitiful. There are other men with a lot of power, but a lack of wisdom. Power without wisdom is dangerous. History is full of men like Hitler and Mussolini, who had power but no wisdom. God, however, is all knowing and all powerful. His plan for our lives is perfect, and His power can follow through and fulfill that plan. Jesus said in John 5:17, "My Father is working still, and I am working."
Tomorrow we will look at the verse that best explains God's Providence.
3. The Explanation of God's Providence
We are looking at God's Providence. The verse that best explain's God's Providence is Romans 8:28: "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." Bob Doom broke down this verse like this:
"And we know..." This is the Certainty of God's Providence. We know that God works for our good. We can look back and see it in our lives, and we can see it in many Bible characters, some of whom we will focus on later this week.
"...that all things..." This is the Circumference of God's Providence. God is sovereign over everything and in every incident. God is in control, and He can make things move or make things stop. God can part a large sea, and He can back the sun up in the sky. But He also can make an axe head float, or put a coin in the mouth of a fish.
"...work together..." This involves the Collectiveness of God's Providence. This verse does not say that every thing that happens in your life will be good. But all things will "work together" for our good. Remember the parable that Jesus told about the rich man who built his house upon the rock, and the man who built his house upon the sand? One of the lessons in that story that some people miss is the fact that the storm hit both houses. Being a child of God does not eliminate the storms of life--but God can work even those storms for our good. My pastor, Jack Tripp, explains it this way. If you take all the ingredients that go into a cake and eat them separately, it will not taste good. But if you take all those same ingredients and mix them together (flour, sugar, eggs, milk, butter, salt, baking powder), then the results are good, and the cake will be a delicious blessing.
"...for good..." This is the Culmination of God's Providence. God's Providence is not for our prosperity, or for our happiness. God's intention is for our holiness. The next verse shows what the "good" is; we are to be conformed to the image of His Son.
"...to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." This is the Children of God's Providence. This verse is only for the children of God. If you are not a child of God, then Satan has a plan for your life, and it will end in destruction. But God has a plan for His children that will end in total goodness and eternal joy. What motivation this should be for all people to look into God's plan for all men! 2 Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
4. God's Providence In the Life of Joseph
God's Providence is seen in the lives of many Bible characters. Joseph's life is a wonderful example. His life appears to go in a downward spiral, but notice that Genesis 39:2 says, "And the LORD was with Joseph..." The next verse, verse 3, says, "And his master saw that the LORD was with him..." Then Joseph is framed for a crime he did not commit, and is put into prison. Although the situation seems to have worsened, Genesis 39:21 says, "But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy..." Genesis 39:23 says, "The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him..." What a great example of how life events that seemed to be so negative, were simply God's Providence working towards a good end. What happened to Joseph was not "bad luck". In fact Providence rules out luck or chance. The idea of luck implies that there is a realm in which God cannot enter or control, and that is simply wrong. Garth Brooks has a line in one of his songs that says, "Our lives are better left to chance..." But our lives are better left to an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving Heavenly Father. What happened to Joseph was not fate or destiny. The words fate and destiny are not found in the Bible, and in fact are rooted in the beliefs of Greek philosophy. God was with Joseph in his home, and He was still with him in prison, working out Joseph's life for His good.
5. God's Providence in the Life of Ruth
My favorite example of God's Providence in the Bible is Ruth. Ruth is a woman from Moab who marries into a Jewish family. She vows to Naomi, her mother-in-law, that "...thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God..." (Ruth 1:16) Naomi and Ruth decide to return to Bethlehem, and Ruth 1:22 says, "...and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest." The fact that they return at the time of the harvest is important to the events leading up to Ruth meeting Boaz. This show's God's perfect timing. Then Ruth 2:3 says, "And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech." I love the way this is worded! In our modern language we would phrase that "it happened", but that sounds so passive. The somewhat archaic phrase "her hap" shows wonderfully how God had a personal plan for Ruth that brought her to the exact field owned by Boaz at the exact perfect time. As a child of God, each of us has a lifetime of "haps"--events and incidents God has lined up for our lives. Although Fanny Crosby was physically blind, she had great spiritual vision and wrote the following lines:
All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
6. How Do We Respond to God's Providence?
God's Providence is a result of God being both all-knowing and all-powerful. But we are not blessed with God's wisdom. When something negative happens to us, we are not able to see it as a part of God's plan. Genesis 42:36 says, "And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." If we could go back 3700 years and talk to Jacob, we could surely help straighten up his attitude! We could explain to him that his son Joseph is not dead. In fact, Jacob, Joseph is alive and well in Egypt, and God is getting ready to use him in a mighty way. But we often react like Jacob did. How many of us have asked God, "Why me?"
I was reading in Exodus 2 and wondered how Miriam felt as she watched over her baby brother Moses when he was placed in a little basket in the river. We have no record of her thoughts and words when she saw Pharoah's daughter come to the edge of the river. But I wonder if maybe she didn't think, "Oh, no! No, Lord, not her. Her father is the one who is having all the babies killed. Oh, this is the worst person that could find my little brother!" This is all in my imagination, but I know how I react when something bad happens. I see only the incident of the moment, and forget that God has a perfect plan is working "all things" together for my good. What a wonderful Heavenly Father we have!
7. How Should We Respond to God's Providence?
Babbie Mason wrote a song a few years ago that I think gives the perfect way that we should respond to God's Providence.
"God is too wise to be mistaken.God is too good to be unkind.So when you can't understand,When you can't see God's plan,When you can't trace His hand,Trust His heart."So the answer is very simple, but quite hard to do: trust Him. As my pastor, Jack Tripp, sometimes says, "That's easy preaching, but hard living." Psalm 27:13 says, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." We have to believe to see. The world says, "I will believe it when I see it." But God's children must learn to believe first. And then eventually we will see. There have been many times when I could not see what God was doing at the time, but later I was able to see how God was working. And some things are so shattering that we may not see what God is doing until we get to heaven. But we must trust Him. As the Bible says in Hebrews 10:38 (and three other places), "Now the just shall live by faith..." How should we respond to God's Providence? Trust Him.
8. "He's Already There"
When I was asked to speak at the Hayworth Christian School graduation last month, I was also asked to write and sing a song for the graduating Seniors. As I studied God's Providence, I saw that it is a process that deals not only with God being all-knowing and all-powerful, but that it also involved the fact that He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. In First Kings 17:3-4 God tells Elijah, "Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." God said, "I have commanded..." You don't have to believe this, but I think by the time Elijah got to the brook Cherith, there were several ravens sitting there looking at him like, "What took you so long?" And then when the brook dries up, God says, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." (First Kings 17:9) Again, God had already provided before Elijah got to Zarephath.
As our life has its twists and turns, we get to places where we see the curve, and around the curve is a place we have never been before. But I firmly believe that when we round the curve, we will find that God is already there. And that is the idea behind this song.
The child is born, and then it cries.
And far above, beyond the skies,
The Father smiles, for He already has His plan.
The child grows on, until one day,
Amazing Grace has its sweet way,
And now the child is guided by an unseen hand.
(Chorus)
We know that all things work for our good,
Though not the way we think they should
And so we ask, in our confusion, "Does God care?"
We see the curve, but around the bend,
Oh, there's a place we've never been,
And then we find that God is already there.
Now from this night, your life you know,
Will have ups and downs, and as you go,
The doubts and fears, they can take away your smile.
Just walk by faith, and not by sight,
Through both the day, and through the night,
'Cause He's already there, and He's been there all the while.
(Repeat Chorus)
(Bridge)
He's already there, your need He will supply.
He's already there, with His ever-watchful eye.
Yes, there'll be storms, you'll have your share,
And your path will wind, but God knows where,
So rest assured, He is already there.
