Providence

My mortgage is owned by a company called Provident Funding. Kind of provident, isn't it? Oh, wait, perhaps we ought to consider just what the word means.

Providence, according to the dictionary, is "the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth." The word may refer to God Himself "when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence", or it may refer to "a manifestation of divine care or direction". Regardless of which sense is used, it is huge.

The origin of the word is pretty clear: to look out for; to provide. You know -- provide-ence. But the root of that word is even more significant. It is a two-part combination. The first is pro -- forward. Can you guess the second? It is videre, from which we get our word, "video" -- To see. So the Latin concept of providiere -- to provide -- means to look forward. Now the concept is bigger.

Biblical Providence is bigger still. W.B. Pope wrote a Compendium of Christian Theology. In it he said this on the subject: "Providence is the most comprehensive term in the language of theology. It is the background of all the several departments of religious truth, a background mysterious in its commingled brightness and darkness. It penetrates and fills the whole compass of the relations of man with his Maker. It connects the unseen God with the visible creation, and the visible creation with the work of redemption, and redemption with personal salvation, and personal salvation with the end of all things. It carries our thoughts back to the supreme purpose which was in the beginning with God, and forward to the foreseen end and consummation of all things, while it includes between these the whole infinite variety of the dealings of God with man" (W. B. Pope, Compendium of Christian Theology, I, 456). Now, that is as big as it gets.

W.B. Pope aside, the Bible says, "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains" (1 Cor 10:26). The Bible says that "all things have been created through Him and for Him" (Col 1:16). Indeed, "in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:17). Paul told those in Athens, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Every aspect of our existence is God's gift. The Bible says, "What do you have that you were not given? And if you were given it, why do you boast as if you had not been given it?" (1 Cor 4:7).

Have you ever recovered from an illness? That is the Providence of God. Did anything good ever happen to you? That is the Providence of God. Do you have a job? That is the Providence of God. Did you just take a breath? That is the Providence of God. "The LORD gives and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." That is the Providence of God.

If you ever wonder what God is doing in the world today, the easiest answer is found simply in the fact that you still exist. Anything good "is from above and comes down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). The Providence of God is huge. We would do well not to forget it.