The
providence of God is wonderful study about how God provides for his creation. The
word providence means to foresee, to perceive in advance, to note beforehand,
to know or think in advance. So we could say, the providence of God is used to
refer to what God does in foreseeing and making available to man those things,
which he really does need. Simply put, the Providence of God means God
provides. God is always looking out for mankind and providing us with what we
need.
Psalm 23:1 The
LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me
beside the still waters. 3 He
restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's
sake. 4 Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with
me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
These verses describes God as a Shepard and a Shepard takes care of his flock providing them with what they need. He will lead us where we need to go and comfort us. He is very active in our lives and our world. He is not like the God of Baal in 1Kings 18. Do you remember how Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to a contest to see whose God was really the God? The challenge was to cut up a bull and put it on some wood without putting fire under it. They could call on their God and he would call on God almighty. Whoever’s bull was consumed by fire would prove who had the one true God. Elijah observed these prophets all day long praying to their God and even cutting themselves trying to get their God to answer. Elijah mocks them, telling them maybe their God is meditating, or he is to busy, or maybe he is on journey or maybe he just sleeping.
Elijah cuts up his bull and places it on the alter along
with twelve stones and digs a trench around it. He has them pour four pots of
water on it three times, so that everything is soaked. When he calls on God
almighty not only did the bull burn, but the fire was so hot that it consumed
the water, wood and even the stones. This is the kind of God that we have in
our corner, one that answers our prayers and continually looks out for us
through his providence.
You can see Gods providence at work in just about every book in the Bible. In the story of Elijah we observe that God used a miracle to bring about the desired result. But, when you look at the Bible as a whole, you will find that this is the exception and not the rule. Generally, God uses natural law to bring about his desired result. This is how he works today because we no longer have miracles and signs today. Notice this is what 1Cor. 13: 8-10 teaches.
1 Corinthians 13:8 Love
never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there
are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will
vanish away. 9 For we know in
part and we prophesy in part. 10
But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be
done away.
Basically what Paul is
saying here at that time they only knew in part and prophesied in part because
the full message of God was revealed at this time. The primary purpose of their
miraculous gifts were to prove what they were preaching was coming from God.
Paul goes onto to say when they which is perfect or that which is complete has
come then miraculous gifts would cease because we would have the fully revealed
word of God. Some get confused on the word perfect and think this is referring
to Jesus but again this word means that which is complete or that which is
mature and is never used anywhere else in scripture in reference to Jesus or
his return. Using this same word James tells us this,
James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect
law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a
doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Since we have the full revealed word today there is no more reason for miracles. This does not mean that God doesn’t have the power to do miracles through humans today. It simply means it is not in Gods will to do them today. However we rest assured that God does take care of us and he will answer our prayers through natural law.
We can break Gods providence into two categories.
General providence is that which benefits everyone in general. Jesus tells us,
Matthew 5:45 for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on
the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Both
the righteous and the unrighteous benefit from God’s providence. For instance Jesus assures us that God feeds and takes care
of the birds (Mat.
Special providence is when God provides for his children, that are obedient to his word with what they need and not always with what they want. Special providence is something God does after a prayer that he might not have done if someone had not prayed.
James 4:2 You
lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and
war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive,
because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
As Christians we have the wonderful avenue of prayer being
able to ask the father in heaven for different things. Jesus tells us to ask
and it will be given to us (Mat 7:7-11). God will hear the righteous and
deliver us from our troubles ( Ps. 34:15-17). Paul tells us God will supply us
with all our needs according to his riches (Ph.
Prov. 3: 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your
own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your
paths.
Jesus
tells us that our father is so attentive that he even knows when a sparrow
falls to the ground. He further states that we are greater than the sparrow and
every hair on our head is numbered (Mat
So, lets have great confidence that God does love and provides for us. People can sometimes look at event in their life and can say that God had a hand in it. We however should not be dogmatic about this, because God does work in mysterious ways and he does so in the background. Paul realized as he was talking about why Onesimus had ran away from his master in,
Philemon 1:15-16 15 For perhaps he departed for a
while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more
than a slave -- a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you,
both in the flesh and in the Lord.
I think Paul puts it best in,
Rom
Now that we talked about how God is going be there for us and how God works through his providence. Now I want to look at several examples of God providence in the last 6 chapters of the book of acts.
The last six chapters of Acts deal with the life of Paul after his third missionary journey. It is very interesting to see how God’s providence plays out in the life of Paul. As we examine this, we will see how prayer was answered and how promises made to Paul by the Lord were accomplished providentially.
Before we begin, it’s
important for us to look at the background of why Paul went to
Acts 19:21 When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the
Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem,
saying, "After I have been there, I must also see
The Holy Spirit was
guiding Paul where he must go. It was the Holy Spirit who had sent Barnabas and
Paul on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2). It was the Holy Spirit who
forbids Paul to go to
Romans 15: 30
Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of
the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from
those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be
acceptable to the saints, 32
that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed
together with you.
Later on when Paul was speaking before King Agrippa declared that the only reason he was still alive was because God had been helping him (Acts 26:22).
We can really see how God works in the background to bring
about the desired result in the Bible. This not only applies to those in the
first century, but to us as well. In Acts 22 Paul addressing the angry mob that
wants him dead. He takes this opportunity to teach them about Christ. They
listened to him until he said that the Lord had sent him to the Gentiles. Once
again the mob wanted Paul dead. Paul was taken into the barracks for his safety
and the commander was determined to find out why these Jews were so angry with
Paul. He did not know what Paul had said to them because he spoke to them in
Hebrew. The commander had planned to beat it out of Paul until he discovered he
was a Roman citizen. The commander really wanted to know more about Paul
situation so he released him from his restraints and called together the
Sanhedrin Council (Acts
After this incident
there were some Jews that took an oath not to eat or drink until they had
killed Paul (Acts
Now we find Paul giving
his defense before Felix and he cant find anything against Paul worthy of death. As a favor to
the Jews he leaves him locked up for period of two years. Felix kept talking
with Paul during this time hoping that he would bribe him with money to let him
go because he was a greedy man. Festus takes the place of Felix and the Jews
thought they might convince the new governor to have Paul brought to
Once again Paul gives
his defense and Festus could not find anything against Paul deserving death.
However, he thought he would do the Jews a favor and asked Paul if he would be
willing to go to
Once again we see the
Providence of God in actions. We need to remember that Paul had hoped to go to
Acts
There was just one problem. Festus had to write formal charges against Paul, but he had nothing to write down. Festus was glad to See King Agrippa and his sister come visit him. He asked him for help on what to write about Paul. King Agrippa agreed to help and wanted to hear Paul speak. Once, again Paul gives his defense talking about Jesus. Earlier Jesus told Paul this,
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go,
for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and
the children of
Jesus said this would happen to Paul and it did through God’s providence.
Next, begins Paul journey to
This is when the winds on the sea start causing all kind of
problems. In fact they got so bad they had to change their course and sail
close to
Acts 27:21 But
after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said,
"Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from
Again, we are going to see the providence of God at work in
this journey. When you look at a map, the island
These men had no idea
what kind of people were on this island, but to their surprise these men
treated Paul and his companions with unusually kindness (Acts 28:2). Paul was
never one to just sit around, so he went and gathered some wood and put it on
the fire. When he did a viper latched onto his hand and he shook it off. The
natives recognized this a very venomous snake because they watched to see if
Paul would swell up or die. They thought Paul was truly a bad man because here
he survived the sea only to be killed by a snake. When they observed Paul
hadn’t even swelled up, they decided he was a God instead. Paul latter on heals
a man with a fever and no doubts teaches these natives about Jesus. It was because
of the providence of God that Paul made it to this island alive and was able to
teach these men that might not of been taught otherwise. Paul took advantage of
the opportunities he had to teach the Word of God and we should follow this
same example in our lives today. After three months Paul and his companions
find another ship that was harboring on the island and they continue their
journey to
At
Philippians 1:12 But I
want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have
actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident
to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in
Christ; 14 and most of the
brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold
to speak the word without fear.
In this lesson we have seen the providence of God at work throughout the life of Paul. Let us never forget that God is always watching out for us as well. He answers our prayers and works in our lives everyday. I believe Paul summarizes this lesson best in,
Romans