Providence

God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (WCF III-1)

Some time ago I was teaching an adult class on Sunday morning. I read that paragraph to them and asked them what they thought. "No way!" they said. They were quite sure that God did not ordain all that came to pass.

In days gone by, the doctrine of the Providence of God was a given. There was no dispute. It was certain that, as the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it, "God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy." Okay, yeah, it's a mouthful, but you get the idea. The doctrine of the Providence of God is simply this: God is in control of all things. Duh! Of course! And still, like my Sunday class, while Christendom was quite sure of this prior to the 20th century, we aren't convinced anymore. Why is that?

I would suggest two sources that have caused this doubt. First, science came along and subverted God as the prime source of truth. Then it went on to replace God entirely. Who needs Him? We figured out how stuff works. Who needs God? It's a funny thing, though. For instance, we've figured out a lot about how cells work. They are routinely compared to factories ... as if factories are self-sustaining engines with no intelligence or design behind them. The suggestion we get from science is that life itself is self-sustaining. And even if you're not a hardcore atheist stridently clinging to Evolution as the answer, you'll find it is likely that you, too, think of our world as running basically by itself with various physical laws and natural functions and ... where is God in all of this?

Another real problem occurred in the 20th century as the Enlightenment was assuring us that things were just getting better and better -- World War. It happened not once, but twice. And there were more ... lots more. According to The War Scholar, in the last decade of the 20th century alone there were 74 wars raging around the world. In fact, there was no time in the 20th century that someone wasn't at war with someone -- generally many someones with many someones. Add onto that the apparent decline of well-being. While we continually seem to make life "more comfortable", more and more things go wrong. There are increases in violent crime, increases in famine, increases in conditions like ADD, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and so on. We "wipe out" smallpox and come up with AIDS. So, while one would think that a God who is Provident would make things better, they don't seem to be getting better.

So, assured by science that our world runs on its own and beleaguered by experience that things are not going well, we can easily question whether or not God is in charge. You know it is just about the first question that is asked when you hear about a tragedy. "How could God allow that?" So God is on the outside looking in, a Deistic God who is relegated to the outskirts, even of a lot of Christendom.

It isn't, of course, what was believed in previous Christianity. It certainly isn't the God of the Bible. That God "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph 1:11). That God is the Creator of all things. Paul said, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Of Christ, the Bible says, "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3) and "By Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:16-17). Jesus claimed, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (Matt 28:18). The author of Hebrews said that Christ was "the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world" and "He upholds the universe by the word of His power" (Heb 1:2-3). In other words, while science tells us that the world runs itself, the Bible argues that the world could not exist without God continually making it so, and that He does so for His own glory. And the problem of evil is interesting in Scripture. It is never anything but evil, receiving just condemnation, but it is also never out of control. It is always by God's design for God's purposes. While we question God in times of trouble, it was exactly times of trouble that pushed believers back to the Providence of God. Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers, concluded, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen 50:20). In the midst of threats and jailings, this is what the early church prayed:

Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, Your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against His Anointed" -- for truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:24-30)

The loss of the doctrine of the Providence of God is not an improvement on Christian theology. It is a violation of historic orthodoxy, a separation from clear biblical teaching, a leap away from reality, and a departure from the only source of real sanity that can be had in troubled times. You may wish to question, "Why would God allow this to happen?" I understand. But if you don't answer, finally, "Because He is good," then you don't really know God ... and that is something that is all-important.