Providence

God’s providence is something I think everyone understands even if it’s to a small degree. If you say, “God is in control.” I think just about every Christian will agree with you. But as soon as you start going into what God being in control looks like that’s when people begin to disagree. I love the way Wayne Grudem describes Gods providence. His definition is, “God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that He… is preserving them, is in concurrence with them, and governs them.” This shows that God is in complete control over everything. The thing most people have a hard time with is Gods interaction with evil, and that’s what I’m going to talk about.

We must remember that even evil is included in to the definition above. Evil is not exempt from Gods control. But He uses it to bring about His glory in the world. He was not surprised that it came into the world but planned it so that He could show His divine Love through Jesus. But we must also realize that God never does evil. He also cannot be blamed for the evil that humans do. The perfect example for this is in Matt. 18:7. Jesus says, “It is necessary that temptation come, but woe to the man by whom temptation comes.” This shows us that evil is going to happen but it’s not Gods fault it’s ours even though God uses it for His glory. That’s how he can turn what was evil and use it for good. (Rom 8:28)

Another thing Grudem mentions is how God can Plan everything in the world and yet not be blamed for the bad that happens. He uses an example of a play writer who writes a play. The play writer knows all the actions that each character is going to make, but in the end it is not him who is doing the actions it’s the people in the play. This is a picture of how God works. It might not be exact but it is a good way of looking at the providence of God. It shows that God had created everything (even evil) and is the sustainer of events, yet he is not responsible for the actions that people do and doesn’t make them do evil and at the same time planned that that evil would happen.

To wrap it up, we as Christians or just people in general for that matter need to realize that God is in control of every action. But we are responsible for our actions. If we sin there is punishment, but if there is righteousness blessing is the reward. So in my life I want to act as God proclaims and commands. That way I get what he promises. But we also must remember that it is Him who even allows us to do those good things. Otherwise we might get puffed up and forget He is the only sustainer of all things.

Heb 1:3 "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"