Providence

Overturning Providence

Ge 45:5-7 Don't be angry with yourselves over having sold me into slavery. God arranged this so that life would be preserved. Already, two years of famine have passed, but five more remain; so God sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant for you, to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
Ge 50:20 You meant these things for evil, but God arranged it for good so as to produce this result wherein many people have been kept alive.
Ex 14:4 I will so harden Pharaoh's heart that he will chase after My people. But I will be honored through him and his army such that all Egypt will know that I am the LORD. (And this is exactly what they did.)
Nu 22:12-18 God told Balaam not to accompany the Moabites and not to curse Israel whom God had blessed. Balaam told Balak to turn back the next morning, knowing that God would not let him go with them. But Balak sent more leaders to talk to Balaam, offering him riches and honors, whatever he might ask, if he would join them. Balaam refused the offer, knowing he could never act contrary to God's command.
Nu 23:1-30 Balaam, [having been given permission to go with Moab by God] told Balak to prepare seven altars and their sacrifices, which he did. Balaam offered up the sacrifices and told Balak to stay near them while he went to meet the LORD. God met him, and he told God what offerings he had made. God told him to return and deliver a message to the leaders of Moab, which he did. The word was that Balaam could not curse a nation that God had not cursed, no matter how much Balak might desire it. He could in no way denounce Israel, for God had not denounced them. He declared them a separated nation, not to be considered as the others. They were numerous, and known for righteousness. Those who sought to die in righteousness could do no better than to be like them. Balak was offended that Balaam had blessed whom he had been asked to curse, but Balaam argued that he could only speak what the LORD put in his mouth to say. Balak took him to another location to try again, repeating the whole ritual. Again, the LORD met Balaam and gave him words to speak. Balak asked him what the LORD had told him. Through Balaam, God told him that He was not one to lie, nor to change His mind. His word having gone forth, you can be certain that He will do it. He commanded Balaam to bless, which blessing Balaam was powerless to revoke. God continued to be with Israel. HE had brought them out of Egypt by His power, and no curse had been pronounced against Israel. That people arises with the strength of lions, and will not rest until it has devoured its prey. Hearing this, Balak told Balaam to be silent, so that neither blessing nor curse should come from him. Balaam replied once more that he could only speak what the LORD said to say. Balak took him to yet another new spot to try again.
Nu 24:10-13 Having received similar results, Balak was angry with Balaam, and told him to flee away. Though great honors had been promised, he said that the LORD had withheld those honors. Balaam reminded him that he had said all along that no matter what reward was offered, he could not say other than what God commanded.
Dt 2:30 Sihon the king would not allow Israel to pass through his lands because the LORD had hardened his spirit so as to deliver him into Israel's hands now.
Dt 23:4-5 They didn't bring food and water for Israel when they left Egypt, but hired Balaam to curse Israel. Yet the LORD would not hear Balaam, and instead turned the curse into a blessing because of His love for Israel.
Jos 11:20 The LORD chose to harden their hearts so that they would choose to meet Israel in battle and be destroyed. No mercy was to be shown them, but utter destruction as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Jdg 9:23-24 God caused evil to come between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, so that those men dealt falsely with him. Thus, the killing of Jerubbaal's seventy sons was avenged upon their brother and those who had helped him.
1Sa 2:6-9 The LORD kills and makes alive. He puts men in the grave, and He raises them up. He makes both poor and rich, the humble and the exalted. The poor, He raises up from the dust and ashes and seats them with nobles in the seat of honor. The pillars of the earth are the LORD's and He sets the world on them.
2Sa 17:14 Absalom and his men chose Hushai's counsel over Ahithophel's because God had so ordained that Ahithophel's good counsel would be overturned. Thus, God brought disaster on Absalom.

 

New Thoughts

Over and again through these verses, we see God moving to protect Israel. We see the plans of those who fought against them seeming to succeed for a time, only to be turned to Israel's advantage later. Thus is God's justice wrapped up in His providence. Evil may seem to prosper for a time, but it will by no means go unpunished. God may allow this seeming injustice for any number of good reasons, but most of the examples we are looking at here focus on preparing for a future blessing.

Joseph's early life, as hard as it was, was all in perfect alignment with God's purposes for him. All of his imprisonments, all of the false accusations he stood under, all of these served to have him right where he was needed at exactly the right time. Thus, his 'light and fleeting afflictions' were the means by which God moved to save not only his own life, but the lives of many hundreds.

The hardening of Pharaoh's heart brought much grief upon both God's people, and upon Egypt. Yet, there was a greater purpose behind his powerful opposition to God. It was necessary that his rebellion be allowed to run its full course, that his fear of the Jews be allowed to reach the point where he would break his own word to them, and run them down. Why was this necessary? So that God's power could be fully displayed, so that all the pride of Egypt might be humbled. Why was this so important to God? Because only in humbling all of Egypt's power could they be brought to recognize that He alone is Lord. The powers of each of their 'gods' needed to be shown weak, that they might come to a belief in the One true God. Is this not a greater good, that an entire nation might come to know the LORD?

The story of Balaam is a familiar one to us. Here, the focus is on the portion of his story where he clearly remains true to God's purpose. However, even in this, there is a hint of his eventual willingness to bend the rules for profit. He began by declaring that he could not possibly accompany Balak, no matter what the bribe. But almost immediately, he begins to seek a way around that. Perhaps God will change his mind. Again, we see God moving to allow rebellion its full fruit. He allows Balaam to go, yet His purpose has not changed. Every attempt by Balaam to fulfill Balak's request is turned on its heals. However often they attempt to bring a curse on Israel, God will not allow it to be other than a blessing.

In all this, we see God's Providence overruling the plans of man in a twofold fashion. First, Balaam's intentions of gaining his bribe money after all, his attempts to bribe God, are turned around by God's own hand. Every attempt to curse His chosen people is turned to a blessing. We see Balaam allowed to follow his course of rebellion. We know it eventually led him to completely abandon his fear of the Lord, and to give evil counsel to Balak. In this, God allowed his sin to reach its full potential. But, He also was working out his own purpose in Balak, and the Moabites.

That is the second story of His overruling Providence that is seen in this tale. They had refused Israel passage. They had refused to provide food and water for God's people. Now, they had hired men to curse Israel for them. In all this, they were but increasing the level of retribution that would come back no them. Their withholding of aid, as much as it may have hurt Israel's well-being for a brief moment of time, was actually an act of God's providence. For, because they withheld their assistance, no argument could be made against His justice in later moving to destroy that nation. As a nation, they had offered many reasons for a just God to wipe them out. Again, God was simply allowing their sin to run to full strength, before justice was brought upon them.

What of our nation today? We like to think of ourselves as a Christian society, but is that really true? Can we look at the activities of this nation, and not recognize that our sins are running on to their fullest potential? How long will the people of God be able to hold back His retribution? How long will He wait, when His people sit idly by, saying nothing to the sinfulness around them? This should be a scary thought for us. It should wake us up. It should get us moving at top speed to seek His ways once more, to seek out His will and do it. It should have us in the streets declaring His righteousness. His justice will prevail. Which side of it will we be found on, I wonder.

I am also struck by the images of the passage from 1Samuel 2:6 - The LORD kills and makes alive. He puts men in the grave, and He raises them up. It is impossible not to see the God of resurrection in this. It is impossible not to see the God who provided the ram in this. He kills and makes alive. It is telling, to me, that this is the order given. Had it said that He makes alive and He kills, we would see nothing but the natural order of life. But, it is the other way around. He kills, and then makes alive.

As I've been reading in Francis Schaeffer's book lately, this is the order of our own Christian life. We must be killed before we can be made truly alive. Like our resurrected Lord, we must know the death of our fleshly desires. We, who seek to see God's face, must die to do so. It is the death of the flesh that is required, the death of sin in us. Only then can we be resurrected into the newness of life, the holiness of life that God's presence requires.

It is by His providence that both the death and the new life are available. It is by His own work in the work of His Son, that we can know the necessary death. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we can know the newness of life, as He works within us to bring about the change. Indeed, He kills and makes alive, and all praise to Him for doing so!