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Bible Study - The Mystery Of Providence

THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE

I had occasion to read a story the other day which showed me that God cares for His creation in ways that we sometimes do not understand.   A young man from Europe had immigrated to America to seek his fortune.   He had no where to go and no likely prospects and he thus decided to head for New York for he was told that that was where jobs could be found.   It was during the 1930s and the depression was making things increasingly difficult in the seemingly prosperous land of opportunity.  

The young man boarded a train bound for New York and found himself sitting next to an elderly lady.   They engaged in conversation after a while and the man found himself pouring out his heart to the lady.  By the end of the journey they had got to know each other quite well and, before they parted, she gave him a piece of paper with her son’s name and work address on it.   The note read ‘Lars Neilson – Steinway Pianos’.   On arrival in New York the young man began to seek for the offices of Steinway Pianos but, try as he might, he could not find the place.   No one seemed to know where it was and no one went out of their way to help him.

Exhausted and dispirited he found a parked car which appeared to be unoccupied so he climbed in and went to sleep.   He was sharply awakened by the loud clanging of a bell and at the same time a man opened the door of the car and asked what the young man was doing in his car.   The question was asked in the language of the young man’s birth and being somewhat bleary eyed, he automatically answered in that same language by saying that he was looking for Steinway Pianos.

The man who opened the door smiled and told him that the bell he heard was the lunch bell for workers at Steinway Pianos who, the young man could see, were streaming out of a nearby building obviously for their lunch break.    As they spoke a common language the young man’s plight soon became apparent as he told the man with the car where he had come from.   It was not long before he was offered a job as a painter at Steinway Pianos.    And the name of his mysterious benefactor with the car?  ………..  Lars Neilson of course!

We need to understand that with regard to God’s providence, we are to understand that He is intimately concerned with every detail in the affairs of men and in the course of nature.   Nothing, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, escapes His attention.   God is as much present everywhere and with everything as though He were only in one place.   The natural progression of life is ordered by God Almighty and this applies to the godly as well as the ungodly.    The Scripture is very clear about these things and we will look briefly at some of them:

1.      NATURE OR THE PHYSICAL WORLD.

NAHUM 1:3.  :  Jehovah does His will in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet

MATTHEW 5:45  :  He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

ISAIAH 40:12  :  Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

2.      THE ANIMAL CREATION.

MATTHEW 10:29.   :   Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father

MATTHEW  6:26.    :   Behold the birds of the heavens, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them

DANIEL 6:22.   :   "My God has sent His angel and has shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me,"

3.      NATIONS

PSALM 47:7.    :   For God Is the King of all the earth

DANIEL 2:21   :   He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings, and sets up kings

4.      INDIVIDUAL MEN.

PROVERBS 21:1   :   The king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses; He turns it whithersoever He will

PSALM. 37:23.    :   A man's goings are established of Jehovah

PROVERBS 16:9   :   A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps

ROMANS 11:36.    :   Of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things

PSALM 34:7   :   The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them, 

We need to understand very clearly that nothing escapes the notice of Almighty God.    He is the Creator and He has an eternal plan which was put into place before the foundation of the world.   He is Sovereignly able to bring that plan to pass and nothing will stand in His way.    We who have trusted Christ have a special place in His plan but it is apparent from scripture that God intervenes not only in a believer’s life, but in the lives of unbelievers as well.   If He did not He would not be true to Himself.    The story I have related above is indicative of this – there is no mention that the man was a believer or had trusted in Christ in any way.   Whether he became a believer later on, the story does not tell.   The fact is that under the mighty providential purposes of God, he was given an opportunity.   This is a mystery and encapsulates the love God has for His creation – all of it.

Having said this, the providential purposes of the God of scripture do not therefore guarantee a place for everyone in heaven.   Sinful mankind is still in need of a Saviour and those who, by God’s unmerited grace and favour have come in to a relationship with Him through believing in His Son Jesus Christ, are blessed for all eternity.

As believers though, we need to seek more earnestly that God will use us in His purposes and so bring more of the world into a relationship with the Saviour.   We who are more blessed because of our relationship with Christ, need to recognize that, because of the providence of God and His purposes, we should strive to conform more and more with His will in our lives.   In this way we are more open, not only to benefit from His providence, but also to be used more and more in His providential purposes for the benefit of others.

God bless you all!

“Having confidence in your obedience ……….. since I know that you will do more than what I say”.    PHILEMON v. 21

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"Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.'"
C.S. Lewis