
If you live long enough, you realize you never could have arranged it. It’s too much, too far. It’s too detailed, too precise.
Noah Webster’s 1828 Online Dictionary defines “providence” as (pay careful attention to point three):
1. The act of providing or preparing for future use or application. Providence for war is the best prevention of it.
2. Foresight; timely care; particularly, active foresight, or foresight accompanied with the procurement of what is necessary for future use, or with suitable preparation. How many of the troubles and perplexities of life proceed from want of providence!
3. In theology, the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence but deny a particular providence not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God himself.
4. Prudence in the management of one's concerns or in private economy (SOURCE: https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/providence).
We hear littler about God’s Providence these days because man is more accomplishment-oriented, pridefully rewarded, and reputationally driven—even in the church. Success or notoriety is based on independence, charisma, and number of followers. However, God’s Providence is more communal, seasonal, more caring for other people, more reverential and holy with God being the Leader. If He chooses to use a man to do this thing or that thing, it is still and only Him. It is for a reason, not reasonless. Corporate worship is more compassion, less competition.
PROVIDENCE --> GOD’S PURPOSE
Providence lends itself toward God’s Purpose. Heaven to earth; earth to Heaven. We think God’s purpose is to bless us constantly (which He does through Christ). However, His purpose is often to use us to bless Him and others (also done through Christ). To be fitted to it can require pain and disillusionment, which we would all want to avoid. In short, if we had our will we would be spoiled with the luxury reserved for Heaven. Here, we are to be put to His good use so others also find their Way There by accepting Christ. We would be secluded forever in an Eden (a Holy Garden); God would propel us to the front of a hostile crowd in a dirty city where all angry eyes expect an answer from our disinterested mouth. We have seen and know the beauty of God. They have not. And there we stand, the center of the confrontation.
God’s ways are above our ways, His mind above our mind, but He is not unreasonable. He always has a positive purpose to His acts. And we did very much say, “Here I am, God; send me.” And so He did.
The evil side of the battle is oppositional to God, but God is all powerful and in due time, in due Providence, He rescues and makes right again. Belief is all He asks for, all the strange way through, and the fruit of His Holy Spirit within compels us to never give up (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness/gentleness, and self-control; Galatians 5:22-23, AMPC).
Man cannot be driven by pride any place
than to a great fall (Proverbs 16:18, AMPC).
All, in reality, we could ever hope to be is
Christ-centered, Christ-led, and Christ-driven.
“Great” people are the first ones to say, “I give the glory to God,” because He, and He only, picked them up from their great fall. They have the Bible for a guide and they know that it is real. They take it in their hearts, and then God takes their hearts into difficult places rife with conflict, scrutiny, and the affairs of greater man to keep voicing the still, small biblical answer which does not change.
We are nothing without Christ and “great leaders” understand this experientially (John 15:5). They have previously been brought very low and in that cruel crevice of mind, heart, body and soul, opened the Word of God as the only possible light in that much darkness. It was miraculously imprinted on their soul and mind, etched deeper than a stone. God rose them back up and gave them a voice and some sort of impossible “opportunity” that, if up to them, they would have run away from in full force. It is an odd thing to them.
First Peter 2:18-25 in the Amplified Bible says (emphasis, author's):
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all [proper] respect, not only to those who are good and kind, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if a person endures the sorrow of suffering unjustly because of an awareness of [the will of] God. After all, what kind of credit is there if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you endure it patiently? But if when you do what is right and patiently bear [undeserved] suffering, this finds favor with God.
Christ Is Our Example
For [as a believer] you have been called for this purpose, since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in His footsteps. He committed no sin, nor was deceit ever found in His mouth. While being reviled and insulted, He did not revile or insult in return; while suffering, He made no threats [of vengeance], but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed. For you were continually wandering like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
You have been called for this Purpose: to be Christ-like and you are yet on the earth. How might this look? As stated in our opening, you never could have arranged it and that is how you know you are in it. The will of God. What an indescribable thing.
Once you accept God’s Providence, then you can trust it.
There is no rest in God if you do not trust God. When you feel God is no where to be found, He is closer than a brother. So close your perception of relationship has changed. There is now no distance, nothing between you/You. Frankly, He has taken over.
The reason Paul did not necessarily pray for circumstances to “change for the better” was because he trusted that God was in control of them to bring about His betterment for all of humanity. Paul was willing to play. Willing to be disillusioned. Willing to be treated unfairly. Willing to be insulted in the media. Willing to go without. Willing to be lied to and about. Willing to go where he had no desire to be. Willing to wait on God for deliverance in every single event. Willing to be wrong. Willing to be lonely. Willing to be misunderstood. Willing to be nonsensically “corrected” by foolish people in “authority”. We was willing to be bumped in the side by God’s rod and staff. Why? Because he understood the dynamic of being in Heaven for all intents and purposes, while walking on the fallen world simply because: this is God’s plan for saints for now.
For now.
Sacrifice is very hard, particularly when it comes in after God’s season of blessings. We feel fallen, not risen. It feels unjust, but it is endured for the sake of Justice Himself. We are comforted in knowing that, “God, Your will be done…” always means He will never leave you in the wilderness. He will, however, walk you through it, show you some things you never cared to see, and certainly use you while you are there. Keep going…
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired (Isaiah 40:30-31, AMPC).
We read of great men and women of God. In all of these hundreds of thousands of accounts of a bold, inspiring life, we have never read of a lifetime of one-sided blessing. No; there has always been great difficulty. Epic-ness has always been via humility, with a small one balanced between God’s left and right hands, with His heart to send them on in Christ. It is His Victory which has shone out like a light through these broken, humble, unique yet extremely powerful and influential souls.
If you feel lost, like your life has not gone according to plan, do not despair. For all you ever only were was God’s Providence in the making. You are God’s will—that is the substance of what you are made of, and what keeps your heart pumping blood to all your cells to continue you. God’s mind is exactly what dreamt you up before you existed. You are based on a thought of His. God’s hand is exactly what formed you and fashioned you in your mother’s womb. You did not start you. You will not finish you. You will not resurrect you. God will. God’s will be done. Moreover, God’s heart is exactly what will save you from all the crevices you might ever fall into here. Only when you trust this wild and fanciful idea of God’s Providence (finished in crescendo by a miraculous Resurrection for those in Christ) can you say with all honesty, “not my will, but Your will be done, Lord.” That one place is where you find your power.
God’s will is so much richer than ours.
Paul did pray that the saints in Christ Jesus would be able to endure “whatever comes” with peace, patience, humility, and multiplied grace (Colossians 3:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:16). I say it many times: LEAN. Do not try to do it on your own. Do not allow distraction to derail you from staying in the Word. Do not let money be your deciding factor.
James 1:1-9 (AMPC) opens up the Wisdom of Providence, which goes like this:
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (rejoice)! Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,
[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God]…
Being double-souled occurs when one doubts God’s Providence. He/she thinks like this: God is good, but apparently not to me. I must have done something unforgivable or this would have worked out better. To this person, God becomes a demanding taskmaster who does not assist them. The work Christ did on the cross (COMPLETE forgiveness) diminishes in their uncertainty. This lack of decisiveness in the faith rips the house God is building asunder (Matthew 12:25).
A double-minded person is not only a believer in God who elects to continue sinning (or continue in regret, guilt and shame), it is also a more mature Christian who wants what they want and what God wants, both. The problem with this is that there must be two wills then, their own and God’s, with some sort of variance. No, the goal of the mature Christian is to want only what God wants—nothing more, nothing less. Why? Because such a fully committed believer trusts God’s plan is the best plan, far better than their own, so much so that they allow Him to supersede their own. Once this is done, happiness exists. A fresh vision comes.
But to get there, a wilderness must be passed through. Only God can throw Providence at you and see how you take it. You are, under no uncertain terms, being tested to the depth, height, length and breadth of your life.
May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself] (Ephesians 3:17-19, AMPC)!
Everything is superseded by the love of Christ. Giving your life to Christ, surrendering it, means even that sweet idea you had of being called into ministry pales in comparison to the love of Christ. It will surprise you what that means. You become malleable when you are aware God is in control.
To be double-minded, even on what “ministry” means, is to be both oppositional to God and for God at the same time, and to be confused on the level. There is no level. It is all and only God—just like it always has been and always will be. Once you re-accept that He is God of your life, He alone will decide if it feels like an experiential blessing to you. Like light in the morning, only God makes things beautiful. It is His shine.
It is at this very point of knowing what God’s Providence is, and accepting it, in whatever form it comes, that you find peace. You trust God once again with everything. He is all or nothing. He gets to the place where He cannot compromise on this point with you any longer. The stakes (which we often know nothing about) are too high for Him to trifle with you anymore. Heaven does come later on—believe in Christ and in the Word. For now, choose His will, not yours, to be done. That is the only way to clear up the matter so you can move forward.
It is nearly Christmas tide, and I encourage you to accept Christ,
and to accept God’s Providence in your life.
Do not settle for sorrow when you can have full joy.
Lay it all down, all of it, and pick up the love of Christ.
Let it flood you until nothing else is left.
We serve a God that orchestrates and manages the universe, our world, ourselves in it, and the course of our lives all along the road to His throne. We can only be truly elevated by God’s will. Let Him decide.
There is a place in Malachi which speaks of a great divorce (Malachi 2:11, 13, 16, AMPC). If men so treat women, God so treats mankind. Directly thereafter, there comes a time of utter silence and darkness wherein God does not speak a thing to man. It is like a seed dying. Then Christ is born, solely by God’s Providence to reunite and propose the ultimate marriage between Christ and believers (Revelation 18:23; 19:7; 21:2; 21:9; 22:17, AMPC).
It is here that I remind you the most that God’s Providence
is 100% to be trusted,
regardless of what the world does.
“Not My will, but Yours be done,” is the only way to lay down one’s life for their friends (Luke 22:42, John 15:13, AMPC). Without God’s will, we could not do it. Choosing God’s will fully—regardless of what it looks like, what zip code, or what path life takes—this is the epitome of trusting God with one’s life, desires, dreams, and purpose. It is not built on “feelings” but rather it is built on FAITH. That is all we have to give God. We tuck our will inside of FAITH and we trust Him with everything that concerns us. It is our gift to God.
Simply, this is also our JOY in giving. It is our sense of HOME in belonging. It is our HOPE in believing. Such a delicate feather, a subtle, kind touch, a sweet thing like a child would do, a tiny snow flake seen while we have the time and conditions for its diamond existence—all in the midst of such a heavy, serious, cataclysmic, screaming world. A divine miracle, and we—you and I—get a chance to see what would happen if we give our lives completely to God and then TRUST HIM no matter what.
CHRIST WAS BORN, CHRIST WAS RESURRECTED,
100% DUE TO GOD’S PROVIDENCE and GOD’s WILL.
God can be trusted. The shame is when the church stops concentrating on this and starts reverencing the news. God’s Providence needs to be talked about more in our churches. It is our reliance in spite of any uncertainty. Saints lose strength and become double minded when they pray for God’s will but do not believe He engineers their circumstances to achieve it. When He does move ON BEHALF OF THE FAITHFUL, we have epic-ness, inspiration, “greatness”—all attributed to Him. We have and experience JOY and revival, not sorrow or sadness, for CHRIST has already come, already saved, and already shown us all the Way from earth to Heaven!
Like Him, we will be expected to lay it all down here. This is the pattern, the expectation, the FAITHFULNESS He is looking for when He returns. It is His very own faith. It is the same substance. He has given it freely to us, not to forget about, but to USE every day of our lives. Let us be fully mindful of it, and full of joy about it.
Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for [H]is chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t [H]e stick up for them? I assure you, [H]e will. He will not drag [H]is feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when [H]e returns (Luke 18:8, MSG)? ”
This Christmas season let us realize, fully, Christ is coming soon. In the meantime, let’s please give Him all we are. Let's go all out for Him. It's time.
REFERENCES:
Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC). Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. lockman.org
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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