Written by Paul J Bucknell on April, 17, 2024

The Providence of God: Confident of the Wrong Being Rightened

You are not alone!

We all face situations beyond our capabilities to handle; that is part of being human. Even Christians should not delude themselves into believing they can bypass the complex and tragic circumstances they might find themselves in (Rev 12:17).

There are, of course, troubles that we can avoid. Wisdom aids us here. Peter, for instance, openly advises believers to stay out of trouble. Sinful decisions bring painful results. “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?” (1 Peter 2:20). And again, but in a different context, “Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler” (1 Peter 4:15). Poor decisions lead to trouble. But that is another topic related to chastisement and judgment. However, this article addresses how the Lord watches over His people in times of affliction.

Deliberately surrendering one’s life to the Lord’s master plan because we are convinced His way is always best.

Legitimate Trouble

Trying situations come upon the righteous, not because of laziness, drunkenness, immorality, or sin. Their afflictions arise from people’s hatred, bitterness, and insensitive nature.

But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. (1 Peter 2:20)

¹⁶ But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. ¹⁸ And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? ¹⁹ Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. (1 Peter 4:16, 18-19)

Peter breaks the delusion that God keeps His people, even when walking uprightly, from fiery trials (1 Peter 4:12). The key phrase, “who suffer according to the will of God,” provides clear proof for this. Peter follows a similar vein in Isaiah 53 and establishes there, as with Job, that the righteous man faces trials at times.

A Larger Perspective

A greater perspective of God’s will builds up the believer’s trust in God no matter his circumstances. The theme centers on a theological term called ‘providence,’ meaning God always kindly carries out His goodwill towards His people, even through trials and persecutions. We speak about believers here, not the unbelievers who reject God’s place in their lives. (Unbelievers need to focus on God’s redemptive plan—why God sent His Son to die on the cross for sinners.)

Behind the doctrine of providence lies the basic biblical teachings:

God kindly cares for His children.
The Lord is generally involved in our world.
God controls all of humanity’s affairs.
God carefully oversees our personal affairs.
The Lord powerfully and wisely intertwines our minds and situations to conduct His higher purposes.

I have not fully mastered my lessons. Each life challenge becomes another lesson in our long books of life. Just before Thanksgiving, with more than fifteen guests coming, I hit a deer on the highway, our gas stovetop started smoking (not the food!), and our refrigerator started to leak oddly. These could have brought panic and doubt about God’s help in caring for these international guests. But thanks be to God; I could calmly trust Him for immediate and temporary solutions while others for longer-term solutions. For example, there were no available workmen before Thanksgiving Day, so I took it as a call from God to don my workman’s cap and get that stove working so my wife could cook for the people coming the next day! My wife exclaimed, “Oh, what are you doing? You will break it.” I replied, “It is broken, but I am trying to get it somewhat working.” God was my help; He helped me get half the stove working.

Providence gives us renewed opportunities to trust God for the affairs of life. Another example is the rotten wood under one corner of my roof. As winter moved in, I discovered all this rotten wood high up off the ground. I took steps to care for the situation, but none of the four construction/roofers that agreed to come out came, even to give me an estimate. All disregarded my several pleas for help. Winter, however, proceeded to come. The rain and snow would fill those gaping holes—creating a storm of bad news. Well, I again donned my painter’s cap and warily climbed that 25 feet to cover the gaps in the wood with plastic before the contractors would come—perhaps not until springtime. God graciously gave me a break in the weather and the courage to cover the problem temporarily. I didn’t blame God or even the contractors, though they did not speak honestly to me. This became another of the many life circumstances in which to watch how God mainly provides.

Being older or having written much on anxiety doesn’t develop trust, but if I grab hold of my many past lessons, I can learn to trust God for my next appointed lesson. I concluded that I didn’t need to climb tall ladders at my age due to having recently broken my foot twice. But God deemed it otherwise. My foot could still handle a tall ladder. Providence teaches that God’s people can trust Him completely to interweave their circumstances with His love towards them—ALWAYS! The truth is amazing. His steady love. Accompanied by His power and wisdom, ensure that I can live my life in accordance with His wise plans.

Though I illustrate through simple, troublesome home situations, this is also true for fierce afflictions such as when Christians face persecution, obstinate officials, or horrible evil. It remains valid for tense personal relationships. God is equally in control and lovingly brings us through these situations. It’s this faith that rings brightly before God’s throne. Let me share more about how the word ‘providence’ summarizes numerous life-restoring truths.

The Trouble with Providence

I started this article by pondering some of the difficulties people worldwide now face. I thought of the escalating hassles our brethren in India are facing as radical Hindus seem unashamed of their Hindu-nationalistic fervor. (I wonder how those who esteem life can cause so much hatred and death.) I recently went to Siliguri, India, and had a great time there, but soon afterward, they captured a pastor who went there right after me. This treatment gets really close to my life. They put him in prison, at least initially, and now keep him bound in that city with a postponed trial.

An image came to my mind—something like a giant puzzle piece. Given our particular situation (i.e., our puzzle piece), we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how our piece fits into the whole picture of God’s sovereign will.

How the pieces of my life fit into God's large plan

This is where Christians try to figure out how they should respond to different situations and people, what decisions they should make, and why God allows (or causes) us to encounter such situations. Our life’s situation is our puzzle piece. And so, we do our best to determine the best pathway possible. Perhaps, a wife is wondering how to respond to her unfaithful husband who got caught viewing porn again. Each situation calls for answers. The more complicated the situation, the more we typically wrestle with God. Jacob serves as a great example of how God works through life situations to train Jacob.

Life’s Call

For example, if we take a broader perspective, as given in the Book of Esther or 1 Peter, we learn not only to think about our lives but also God’s call and purpose for them. Although this change of perspective might seem small, it is enormous. Suddenly, we see that the purpose of our lives is not our wishes or convenience but to fulfill the purpose for which God created us.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 NASB)

What do you see in Esther 4:14? Mordecai wisely sees the present queen’s position from a different vantage point. Although the word “God” is not in the Book of Esther, His providence is amply seen. Esther has to decide between guarding or risking her life. But in her plight, if she guards her life, she might lose it. After all, she is also a Jew. Mordecai knows the battle between choosing for oneself and for others. He can see that it is probable that “you have…attained royalty for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

This story reveals the vital perspective of our lives—none of our lives is inconsequential. Each plays an invaluable role. Yes, God has a way of using others if we fail, but still, God is cheering us on to look beyond our innate desires that attempt to preserve our comfort and convenience. Our worldliness will cause us to miss our heavenly call. When we see what it means to live in light of God’s greater purposes, our life challenges will no longer look accidental or incidental, but purposeful.

The Greater Perspective

Through faith, we continue to live in light of God’s powerful and purposeful presence. Faith enables us to recognize God’s presence and live in light of His wishes. Without faith, we live by sight, and the things on earth wholly influence us. But with faith in God, the grasp of worldly sights begins to fade to the background as we see the vital place of heavenly things.

God’s person and purpose take up an all-important place in our lives. We cease looking at our lives merely regarding how others might think of us or how we can get ahead. We can move forward and deliberate on what God wants for our lives.

One of the most significant changes in my life occurred when God called me into missions. This happened in my Maine second-floor dorm as I looked across the campus, watching many students go back and forth across the Orono campus. It would have been like any other day, but then God pointed me to examine the needs of the lost. They need the Lord. After I assented, He pointed out the urgency— Christ was coming soon. So, I felt convinced I needed to follow. The Lord had already been regularly powerfully speaking into my life through my Bible devotional time with Him. But this ‘calling’ led to a wider perception and preparedness for God’s mission program. The urgency of it led me to switch from my loved engineering program to readying for the Gospel ministry—whatever that meant. I immediately started proceeding down that pathway because of these events. Having gained a glimpse of what God was doing, He invited me to join Him in that work. It meant I left behind what would have been an engineering career (a field that still fascinates me).

When God enlarges our faith, we are called to live in light of what He allows us to see. This life calling is true for those going into ministry and all believers called into serving Him.

The Greater Picture

We must understand that our puzzle piece (i.e., life) is just one part of His massive puzzle. And though small, we dare not conclude that our piece is unimportant. By observing God’s involvement in our lives, we know our lives play an essential role in His comprehensive plan, reminding us of our need to live responsibly before Him in all aspects of life. But let us broaden our picture of the world.

To understand God’s providence, we must understand how His sovereignty interfaces with our world. And remember, though we speak of Esther—or Jacob, Adam, Joshua, we are not to conclude that these are the only people God involves Himself. They are examples of the way God interacts with people in the world. If we jump to the New Testament scene where the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer, this truth becomes all the more evident. Each body member crucially serves the whole. When we understand our essential place in this world, our eyes and ears look at our surroundings differently.

Although God’s Word is crucial in directing us, let us not downplay God’s work through the world and its many events. We can’t fathom how God interfaces through these events. Satan can only cleverly link several situations to tempt us (i.e., through exposing a tempting ad at a particularly weak time in our lives), but this is nothing like God’s massive plan. God’s plan, including His redemptive plan, is always much more profound than the evil one’s devices. God’s plan encompasses all evil, temptations, suffering, abuse, etc. He is not responsible for it (look at the Book of Job), but He can carry out His purpose despite such evil. We find ourselves at the crosshairs of this evil somewhere along the way. The cross is the clearest example of the righteous being exposed to the brutality of evil (Acts 2:23-24).

God’s sovereign control of timing is perhaps not seen more clearly than in chapters 5 and 6 of Esther. Chapter five meticulously records how the evil Haman seeks to eliminate his arch humiliator, that is, Mordecai.

Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai. (Est 5:9)

When we turn to chapter 6 (the original text did not have chapter separations), all of a sudden, the plot thickens. When Haman orders the 75-foot gallows to be built (last verse of chapter 5), King Ahasuerus can’t sleep. “During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king” (Esther 6:1). Now, from all the records and chronicles that could be chosen, which one is selected for him to read? In that one scroll, which account does he hear but that of the need to reward Mordecai—the same archenemy as Haman?

By verse 11, Haman is much humiliated by being required to give his archenemy the admiration that he desired. But this is not the end. The story continues! However, it is sufficient for us to point out that the annihilation of the Jews throughout the empire incurred God’s wrath with such specificity to set up Haman on his own gallows.

Even with the most powerful men in the most powerful earthly kingdoms, God easily carries out His marvelous purposes. Nothing hinders Him from exercising His sovereign purposes. God's providence is not just a universal force at work but has a witty mastermind guiding it. When someone dared to exterminate His chosen people, the Lord stood up for them.

Summary

This Old Testament account provides several conclusions about God. God’s power is not only mighty but clever and purposeful. The Lord controls the time and interests of mankind. The Sovereign One manipulates the world clocks to direct when the characters take their earthly roles. He oversees it all.

Every genuine believer becomes part of His people when we enter the New Covenant. God’s involvement in our lives is no less than Esther or Mordecai’s. We might doubt such a statement, but we should not underestimate God’s investment in His only Son for our lives. God deliberately controls the good and bad that happens around us, even the misdeeds at the cross. The truth of God’s providence should not haunt us but confirm God’s greater purposes in our lives.

Faith is our confident response to God’s promises, enabling us to work out His purposes in our specific life situations. God has revealed His great purposes (Mat 28:17-20) and instructed us to join Him in this mission. Nothing needs to hold His people back from seeing God’s supreme purposes extend to all His people. “All authority in heaven and earth” has been given to Jesus. Yes, the evil one will seek our worst, but we can trust the Lord to timely undermine his evil devices and bring about a greater good.

Frankly, the series of troubles that recently happened to me did not appear to relate to my sharing the Gospel. But just the same, the Lord is concerned that I always walk uprightly, full of confidence in His way. I can trust Him explicitly! His people can always trust the Lord for the circumstances arising in our lives. They will sometimes seem very bothersome, but that is okay, for God will work out the details favorably just at the right time.

So anxiety, stress, worry, or fear need to be part of our lives. God's providence has not only tolerated evil’s presence for a while but assuringly brought His grace into our lives to live above it and eventually judge it—if not during our lives, in the days to come.

Discussion Questions

What does the providence of God mean?
What scriptures do you use to help you understand and define the providence of God?
How do you respond to difficult circumstances?
How does the article relate God’s providence to our difficult circumstances?
How does the Book of Esther, in particular, highlight the sovereign providence of God in relationship to evil? (Read the book as necessary.)
Can you trust God to work out a more excellent plan that undermines the presence of evil in this world, which perhaps has negatively impacted your life? Explain.

For Further Study

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