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Divine providence
,
God in eternity past, in the counsel of His own
will, ordained everything that will happen; yet in no sense is God the author
of sin; nor is human responsibility removed - there is a balance. God is never
out of control - even the evil that is tearing the world apart is working
toward a greater, final purpose. We can’t see it yet - but we know that God
allows things for a reason and that His plan is good
Got
Questions Ministries
Divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe.
The doctrine
of divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things.
He is
sovereign
over the
universe as a whole (Psalm 103:19),
the physical
world (Matthew 5:45),
the affairs of
nations (Psalm 66:7),
human destiny (Galatians 1:15),
human
successes and failures (Luke 1:52), and
the protection
of His people (Psalm 4:8).
This doctrine
stands in direct opposition to the idea that the universe is governed by chance
or fate.
Through divine
providence God accomplishes His will. To ensure that His purposes are
fulfilled, God governs the affairs of men and works through the natural order
of things.
The laws of nature
are nothing more than God’s work in the universe.
The laws of
nature have no inherent power; rather, they are the principles that God set in
place to govern how things normally work.
They are only
“laws” because God decreed them.
How does divine providence relate to human
volition?
We know that
humans have a free will, but we also know that God is sovereign.
How those two
truths relate to each other is hard for us to understand, but we see examples
of both truths in Scripture.
Saul of Tarsus was willfully persecuting the church, but, all
the while, he was “kick[ing] against the goads” of God’s providence (Acts 26:14).
God hates sin
and will judge sinners.
God is not the
author of sin, He does not tempt anyone to sin (James 1:13), and He
does not condone sin.
At the same
time, God obviously allows a certain measure of sin.
He must have a
reason for allowing it, temporarily, even though He hates it.
An example of
divine providence in Scripture is found in the story of Joseph.
God allowed
Joseph’s brothers to kidnap Joseph, sell him as a slave, and then lie to their
father for years about his fate.
This was
wicked, and God was displeased.
Yet, at the
same time, all of their sin worked toward a greater good: Joseph ended up in
Egypt, where he was made the prime minister.
Joseph used
his position to sustain the people of a broad region during a seven-year famine
— including his own family.
If Joseph had
not been in Egypt before the famine began, millions of people, including the
Israelites, would have died.
How did God
get Joseph to Egypt? He providentially allowed his brothers the freedom to sin.
God’s divine
providence is directly acknowledged in Genesis 50:15–21.
Another clear
case of divine providence overriding sin is the story of Judas Iscariot.
God allowed
Judas to lie, deceive, cheat, steal, and finally betray the Lord Jesus into the
hands of His enemies.
All of this
was a great wickedness, and God was displeased.
Yet, at the
same time, all of Judas’s plotting and scheming led to a greater good: the
salvation of mankind.
Jesus had to
die at the hands of the Romans in order to become the sacrifice for sin.
If Jesus had
not been crucified, we would still be in our sins.
How did God
get Christ to the cross? God providentially allowed Judas the freedom to
perform a series of wicked acts.
Jesus plainly states this in Luke 22:22: “The Son of Man will go as it has
been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”
Note that Jesus teaches both the sovereignty of God (“the
Son of Man will go as it has been decreed”) and the responsibility of
man (“woe to that man who betrays!”).
There is a balance.
Divine providence is taught in Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.”
“All things” means “all things.”
God is never
out of control.
Satan can do
his worst, yet even the evil that is tearing the world apart is working toward
a greater, final purpose.
We can’t see
it yet. But we know that God allows things for a reason and that His plan is
good.
It must be
frustrating for Satan. No matter what he does, he finds that his plans are
thwarted and something good happens in the end.
The doctrine of divine providence can be summarized this way:
“God in eternity past, in the counsel of His own will, ordained everything
that will happen; yet in no sense is God the author of sin; nor is human
responsibility removed.”
The primary
means by which God accomplishes His will is through secondary causes (e.g.,
laws of nature and human choice).
In other
words, God usually works indirectly to accomplish His will.
God also
sometimes works directly to accomplish His will. These works are what we call
miracles.
A miracle is
God’s circumventing, for a short period of time, the natural order of things to
accomplish His will.
The blazing
light that fell on Saul on the road to Damascus is an example of God’s direct
intervention (Acts 9:3).
The
frustrating of Paul’s plans to go to Bythinia is an example of God’s indirect
guiding (Acts 16:7).
Both are examples
of divine providence at work.
There are some
who say that the concept of God directly or indirectly orchestrating all things
destroys any possibility of free will.
If God is in
complete control, how can we be truly free in the decisions we make?
In other
words, for free will to be meaningful, there must be some things that lie
outside of God’s sovereign control — e.g., the contingency of human choice.
Let us assume
for the sake of argument that this is true. What then?
If God is not
in complete control of all contingencies, then how could He guarantee our
salvation?
Paul says in Philippians 1:6 that “he who began a good work
in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
If God is not
in control of all things, then this promise, and all other divine promises, is
in doubt.
If the future
does not belong completely to God, we do not have complete security that our
salvation will be made complete.
Furthermore,
if God is not in control of all things, then He is not sovereign, and if He is
not sovereign, then He is not God.
So, the price
of maintaining contingencies outside of God’s control results in a belief that
God is not really God.
And if our
free will can trump divine providence, then who ultimately is God? We are.
That
conclusion is unacceptable to anyone with a biblical worldview.
Divine
providence does not destroy our freedom.
Rather, divine
providence takes our freedom into account and, in the infinite wisdom of God,
sets a course to fulfill God’s will.
Got
Questions Ministries
seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and
timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence.
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
We will do our best to prayerfully and thoroughly research your question and answer it in a biblically based manner. It is not our purpose to make you agree with us, but rather to point you to what the Bible says concerning your question. You can be assured that your question will be answered by a trained and dedicated Christian who loves the Lord and desires to assist you in your walk with Him. Our writing staff includes pastors, youth pastors, missionaries, biblical counselors, Bible/Christian college students, seminary students, and lay students of God’s Word.
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
We will do our best to prayerfully and thoroughly research your question and answer it in a biblically based manner. It is not our purpose to make you agree with us, but rather to point you to what the Bible says concerning your question. You can be assured that your question will be answered by a trained and dedicated Christian who loves the Lord and desires to assist you in your walk with Him. Our writing staff includes pastors, youth pastors, missionaries, biblical counselors, Bible/Christian college students, seminary students, and lay students of God’s Word.
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