Providence

ISBE on Providence

The Doctrine of Providence (Cont'd)

The Purpose of Providence(9/23/02)

To understand the purpose of God's governmental providence, we need to try and understand His thinking with regard to His creation, what His purpose was in making all that is. Primary in that plan of His was the creation of beings who would seek their greatest happiness in holiness, and by seeking that holiness, would glorify God. Man, as a rational, moral agent, can glorify Him moreso than any lesser creation. "Character that is formed freely under God's government and guidance will glorify the Creator more than anything can which is made to be what it is wholly by divine omnipotence." So, God's providential activities are aimed towards developing our character by reducing our sinfulness, and increasing our holiness while we are yet free as to our moral decisions. Sin is a possibility in a world of moral free agents, but it is not a necessity. Seeing that God's actions are geared towards our character, we see that He is concerned not with the temporal well being of His children so much as their eternal well-being. The character He has formed will show itself in obedience to His will and in service to man. His providence is "Infinite Wisdom, using infinite power to accomplish the ends of infinite holiness and love." God's love is the cause of His providence, God's glory is the purpose - a glory found in the holiness and happiness of His children.

Special Providence

Even general providence is special, in that it must address the specific circumstances of the individual, yet there is a higher form of special providence exercised by God on behalf of those who are in obedience to His will, those who reverently fear Him.

Ps 37:23 The LORD establishes man's steps, and delights in his way.
Pr 3:6 As you acknowledge Him in all you are doing, He will straighten your paths.
Pr 12:21 No harm comes to the righteous, but the wicked are ever troubled.
Mt 6:33 Seek His kingdom and righteousness first, then all needful things will be given you.
Ro 8:28 We know that God makes all things work together for good to those who love Him, and are called for His purpose.

The Goal is Spiritual, not Material

To think that Providence is geared towards prosperity on secular terms is a harmful notion. He may well bless His children in that fashion, but the good that is promised is a spiritual good first and foremost. If there are material blessings given, they are given in service of spiritual gain. Whatever earthly condition will best serve His goals upon our character He will use. His promise of care includes with it an assurance that persecutions will come, yet the persecutions do not make His promise void, because His promise is for the care of our eternal estate.

Providence and Accidents

Providence is not to be limited to accidental occurrences, nor to escapes from danger. His interventions are not capricious, nor are they occasional. His intervention is constant, as He cares for those who love Him in every experience of their life.

Providence and Piety

Piety and prayer are certainly conditions upon which special providence takes action, though it will almost always far exceed the content of the prayers that sought the actions. We are within rights to seek material answers in the context of God's will, but He encourages us to focus on the spiritual instead. Seek the kingdom first, not the physical. When our delight is to serve Him, He will care for our wants and needs. His special providence is given only to those who seek Him first and foremost. The proof of our love for Him is not in our words, but in obedient service.

Providence and Man's Efforts

God's providential care is not an excuse for us to cease from our own labors in efforts to provide for our own needs. When we pray for our daily bread, we are nevertheless required to work for it. Trust in Him is no excuse for idleness or thoughtlessness. We needn't be anxious about our provisions, but we still should be working to obtain them.

General and Special Providence Equally Divine

Both the natural and the supernatural are divine. Likewise, God's actions are equally divine, whether they be of general or special nature. The only distinction between the two forms of providence is due to the fallen nature of man's free will. Special providence is only active in the lives of the righteous. Had man never fallen, there would be no call to distinguish between the forms of providence. It is quite reasonable to claim that there is no real distinction between the two forms of providence, as the distinction lies in man's will, not God's actions. However, if we will deny the distinctions, we must take care to assert that God is intimately involved with the events of His creation, that He governs with all wisdom and love, actively working in the lives of those He has created. In reality, what should be the special case is the restricted activity of God's providence in the presence of sin, but the fall has made sin so prevalent that His unrestricted acts of love towards the righteous seem the more exceptional case.

Providence and Free Will (9/24/02)

God governs as a father or king, not as a mechanic. Though He is limitless, He has chosen to limit Himself by giving us free will. God is certainly capable of so predetermining man's actions absolutely, but will not do so, as it destroys man's freedom. Man remains a free agent, and God's rule of man is done through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He encourages right action and discourages wrong.

Da 4:35 Compared to Him, all those who live on the earth are nothing. He does as He will among those in heaven, and those in the earth. There is not one being who can stop His hand or require an explanation of His actions from Him.

His providence works both with the willing and the unwilling among men.

The Willing

God works to will and to do. Just as He can and does intervene in the physical world, He can and does intervene in the mind and will of man. In this interior world, we are privileged to know His working by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. His guidance is more than suggestion, it is a means of controlling the will of man without destroying man's free agency. The sinner who knows himself sinful is having thoughts produced by the Holy Spirit, not himself. Moreso the believer. He will have thoughts introduced by the Spirit, and he will find himself acting under the Spirit's direction. That He thus influences us no more destroys our free will than does the influence of our fellow man. Compulsion would destroy that freedom, but the believer has willed himself to be ordered in concord with God's will. We pray for Him to choose, and invite Him to will and to do. It is the highest act of our free will to submit ourselves to His will. Any act of His which follows this willing surrender is no coercion.

The Unwilling

This cooperative work of God can not occur in the sinner, for the sinner's will is focused solely on doing evil, on opposing God's will. Here, also, God cannot so coerce the mind of man as to destroy his free will, for He has chosen to limit Himself in that way. There are degrees of opposition. Every sinner that ever repented and came to Christ came by the work of God's providential will in their lives before they repented. Thus did God reveal that He had been working in Cyrus' life. "Every man's life is a plan of God" (Horace Bushnell). It is possible that the Holy Spirit was working as much in the life of a sinner who refused to repent. [really?] Free agency in man can defeat Infinite Love. [really?]

Jer 18:1-23 The LORD told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house and await His word, which Jeremiah did. He found the potter making something on the wheel, but it was spoiled, so the potter remade it into a different vessel as he saw fit. The LORD told Jeremiah that He was just as capable of reshaping Israel, for they are like clay in His hands. He may tell them at one point that such and such a nation would be destroyed; yet, if that nation were to repent of its evil ways, God would certainly refrain from bringing calamity upon them. In the same way, He may build up a particular nation; yet if that nation turns to doing evil, God will hold back the blessings He had in store for them. At this juncture, I, the LORD, am planning calamity for you, so turn back from your ways, reform your deeds. They will claim that the situation is hopeless, that they will continue on in the stubbornness of their own hearts. But the LORD responds, "nobody has heard the like! The virgin of Israel has done most appalling things. Does snow forsake the rock of the mountains? Is flowing water taken away? Yet, My people forget Me and burn incense to worthless gods. They have fallen off the ancient paths, and walk on goat trails rather than highways. They will make their land a desolation, an object of permanent scorn to astonish all who see it. I will scatter them like the wind before their enemy. The will not see My face, but My backside when their calamity comes." The people responded by plotting against Jeremiah. They chose to trust in the permanence of the law, in their priests and prophets, and ignored Jeremiah's words. He cried out, "listen, LORD, to what they are saying! How is it that good is repaid with evil? They seek to bury me, but remember how I have spoken Your good word to them, to turn Your wrath from them. Bah! Give their children up to famine, deliver them to the sword. Make their wives childless widows, and smite their men. Strike them down in battle. Bring raiders upon them, and let crying be heard in all their houses. For they seek to capture me with hidden snares. But You, LORD, know all their deadly plans. Don't forgive their sins. Don't forget. Let them be overthrown by Your power. Deal with them in Your anger."

 

New Thoughts (9/25/02)

Free agency in man can defeat Infinite Love. This is the position the author of this particular article has taken, but is that really true? This is an incredible difficult concept to grapple with, this matter of God's will versus man's. There are those, like this author, who see man's will as being in control. Yet, how can this play with the fact that God is omnipotent? Has He willingly submitted His will to ours? Would we really want Him to? God is all-wise. There is nobody out there that could devise a better plan, nor concoct better means for bringing those plans about. That is what makes His providence so awesome.

How is God shown awesome by allowing us to decide whether His will will be done or not? How is that omnipotence? It is possible, I suppose, that He has chosen in Himself to restrict His power by our choices, yet that doesn't seem to me to accord with the record of Scripture. Even in the example given above to support the idea, did free will really trump God's plan? We've looked at that story in greater scope, seeing the thread running from Solomon through to Nehemiah as the full plan of God became evident. Jeremiah and the exiles were but one necessary part in that whole thread of events.

No other path through that period in history could have brought more glory to God than did the path He chose for His people. Were they in accord with His will when Israel fell into idolatry over and over again? Absolutely not. Were the Assyrians in His will when they took Israel captive from the land? Absolutely not. Yet, God's will was certainly being done. Was Israel working with God in this period that Jeremiah is crying out in? Not at all. That's why punishment was necessary. Yet, God's punishment of His children is always to correct and never to destroy. Destruction is ours to choose, perhaps, but He is forever offering another way out. Did Israel's choices, then, defeat His purpose? Not at all. They chose unwisely, yet He who works all things for the good of those working in His purpose worked even their rebellion to the purpose of glorifying Himself among even the nations of His enemies!

God's love is the cause of His providence, God's glory is the purpose - a glory found in the holiness and happiness of His children. To my thinking, the fact that His love is the cause of His providence requires that His providence, His will, can indeed defeat our free choosing. Assyria had not chosen to work with God. God chose to so influence them that they wound up working for Him anyway. Satan does not choose to work with God, yet God ensures that his efforts will wind up serving His purpose anyway. God wins.

In our case, I should think it a great comfort to know that His love will trump my weak will. If my holiness were dependent solely on my choices, I'd be as doomed as ever I was. Thank God that His love trumps me. Thank God that He does not leave me absolutely free to choose whatever I will. Would we leave our children absolutely free to choose, as an example, whether they should play inside the oven or not? No. Love cannot allow that degree of freedom. Love requires that we restrict the choices available to our children. We are created in His image, so why would we think His love somehow less than our own?

I will agree, however, with what the author says about His activity in restricting our choice. It is not coercion, certainly not on the part of His chosen ones. And the reason given is certainly a legal basis for saying no coercion can be found. We, who love Him, have submitted our own wills to His, seeking from Him to choose and to do for us as He desires. If we have willingly submitted our wills to Him, how then can any action of His in our lives be coercion? It cannot be.

Does this remain true in the case of those working against Him? Yes, I believe it does. If He were coercing them to do evil, that would be evil done on His part. If their evil acts were the result of His coercion, there could be no guilt on their part. The fact of the matter is that we are entirely too willing to chase after evil of our own accord. All that is needed on God's part is to do nothing to stop us, and we will happily rush headlong into hell. He needn't coerce us into actions such as that.

Thank God, though, that He does intervene on our behalf, and that His intervention is constant. This is an incredible thought: God never stops intervening in my life! When I think Him gone away, He is still there. When I fall so utterly as to deny Him, He remains there, waiting for a return of sense in me. Not only waiting, but intervening to make sure that my sense will indeed return! As awesome as those internal workings of God are, we mustn't fail to note that His intervention is just as much there in the everyday, ordinary cares of life. The sun rises, the rains come to water the earth. Plants grow, and animals are fed, and so, our needs are taken care of by a loving, personal God. We continue to breathe, our bodies continue to convert food into energy, our thoughts continue to serve us, and so, our very lives are a reflection of the constant care of our intimate, loving God.

His love for us is incredible! When we spend the time to consider all that He does for us, we cannot help but realize how little we truly understand that love. His love is beyond everything we can contemplate, everything we can understand, even in considering Him who his love. And He calls us to be like Him. He models for us what the love of a father ought to be like, what the love of a husband ought to be like.

Lord, teach me. So often, all I seem to model is Your wrath. Like Jeremiah, I am entirely too willing to give up on those around me, to leave them to their doom. But, You call me to love as You love, to love unconditionally, to love the unlovely. You call me to care. I want so much to say, "yes, I'll do that." I want to, yet I know myself too well to believe it myself. Oh, God! All things are possible in You. Change me. Bring that love to exist in this vessel of Yours. Build me up in Your image, so that my love for You will be as evident as Your love for me!

God, the writer, here, has said that the proof of our love for You is not to be found in our words, for words are entirely too cheap to us. Our love for You is to be found in our actions, in our obedience to the One we call Lord. If I have truly submitted my will to Yours, why is it so hard to do Your will? Weaken this stubborn child, my God, that I may serve You in spirit and truth, even as I seek to worship You in spirit and truth.

Let my life stand as an evident proof of our love One for the other. Amen.