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  "God's Providence"  

"...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

"Every providence tends to the spiritual good of those that love God; in breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, and fitting them for heaven. When the saints act out of character, corrections will be employed to bring them back again."  
— Matthew Henry

"God’s providence is working, his Spirit is working, and they are working Together with him. And whatever troubles, or afflictions, or persecutions may arise, God presses them into their service; and they make a part of the general working, and are caused to contribute to the general good of the person who now loves God, and who is working by faith and love under the influence and operation of the Holy Ghost."   — Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Thomas Boston wrote,     "How We Ought to Think about God's Providence"

1.   Beware of drawing an excuse for your sin from the providence of God; for it is most holy, and is in no way any cause of any sin you commit. Every sin is an act of rebellion against God; a breach of his holy law, and deserves his wrath and curse; and therefore cannot be authorised by an infinitely-holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity without detestation and abhorrence. Though he has by a permissive decree allowed moral evil to be in the world, yet that has no influence on the sinner to commit it. For it is not the fulfilling of God's decree, which is an absolute secret to every mortal, but the gratification of their own lusts and perverse inclinations, that men intend and mind in the commission of sin.

2.   Beware of murmuring and fretting under any dispensations of providence that you meet with; remembering that nothing falls out without a wise and holy providence, which knows best what is fit and proper for you. And in all cases, even in the middle of the most afflicting incidents that happen to you, learn submission to the will of God, as Job did, when he said upon the end of a series of the heaviest calamities that happened to him, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord," Job, i. 21. In the most distressing case, say with the disciples, "The will of the Lord be done," Acts, 21:14.

3.   Beware of anxious cares and fearfulness about your material well-being in the world. This our Lord has cautioned his followers against, Matt. 6:31. "Take no thought, (that is, anxious and perplexing thought,) saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Never let the fear of man stop you from duty, Matt. 10:28, 29; but let your souls learn to trust in God, who guides and superintends all the events and administrations of providence, by whatever hands they are performed.

4.   Do not think little of means, seeing God works by them; and he that has appointed the end, orders the means necessary for gaining the end. Do not rely upon means, for they can do nothing without God, Matt. 4:4. Do not despair if there be no means, for God can work without them, as well as with them; Hosea 1:7. "I will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." If the means be unlikely, he can work above them, Rom. 4:19. "He considered not his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb." If the means be contrary, he can work by contrary means, as he saved Jonah by the whale that devoured him. That fish swallowed up the prophet, but by the direction of providence, it vomited him out upon dry land.

5.   Lastly, Happy is the people whose God is the Lord: for all things shall work together for their good. They may sit secure in exercising faith upon God, come what will. They have good reason for prayer; for God is a prayer-hearing God, and will be enquired of by his people as to all their concerns in the world. And they have ground for the greatest encouragement and comfort in the middle of all the events of providence, seeing they are managed by their covenant God and gracious friend, who will never neglect or overlook his dear people, and whatever concerns them. For he has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," Heb. 13:5.

Matthew Henry wrote,

1.   Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. All that God designed for glory and happiness as the end, he decreed to grace and holiness as the way. The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace. He predestinated, or before decreed, that they should be conformed to the image of his Son. In this life they are in part renewed, and walk in his steps.

2.   Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. It is an effectual call, from self and earth to God, and Christ, and heaven, as our end; from sin and vanity to grace and holiness, as our way. This is the gospel call. The love of God, ruling in the hearts of those who once were enemies to him, proves that they have been called according to his purpose.

3.   Whom he called, them he also justified. None are thus justified but those that are effectually called. Those who stand out against the gospel call, abide under guilt and wrath.

4.   Whom he justified, them he also glorified. The power of corruption being broken in effectual calling, and the guilt of sin removed in justification, nothing can come between that soul and glory. This encourages our faith and hope; for, as for God, his way, his work, is perfect. The apostle speaks as one amazed, and swallowed up in admiration, wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. The more we know of other things, the less we wonder; but the further we are led into gospel mysteries, the more we are affected by them. While God is for us, and we keep in his love, we may with holy boldness defy all the powers of darkness."
From — Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

John Gill wrote,

And we know that all things work together for good,....   There is a temporal good, and a spiritual good, and an eternal one. Temporal good is what the men of the world are seeking after, and generally have the greatest share of, and the saints the least; and yet they have as much as is needful for them, and what they have, they have with a blessing; and even sometimes afflictions work for the temporal good of God's children: spiritual good lies in a lively exercise of grace and a conformity of the soul to God; and is what the men of the world least regard, and the saints most; and sometimes afflictions issue in this sort of good, as they do also in eternal good, for they work for us an exceeding weight of glory: by "all things" may be meant, all beings good and bad: all good beings eternal or created: eternal, as Jehovah the Father, all his perfections, purposes, promises, provisions, and performances.

Jehovah the Son, as the mighty God, and as Mediator, all that he is in himself, all that he has in himself, all that he has done, or is doing, all his titles, characters, and relations; Jehovah the Spirit, in his person, offices, and operations; these all have worked together in the council of peace, in the covenant of grace, and in redemption; and they do work together in sanctification, and so they will in glorification, and that for the good of the saints: all created ones, as good angels, good magistrates, good ministers of the Gospel: all evil beings, as devils, persecuting magistrates, heretics, and false teachers: all things, good and bad: all good things, outward peace and prosperity, external gifts, the ministry of the word, the administration of ordinances, church censures, admonitions, and excommunications; all evil things, sin the evil of evils: original sin, or the fall of Adam, which contains all other sins in it, was attended with aggravating circumstances, and followed with dismal consequences, yet has been overruled for good.

Hereby a Saviour became necessary, who was sent, came, and wrought out salvation; has brought in a better righteousness than Adam lost; entitled his people to a better life than his was, and makes them partakers of the riches both of grace and glory: actual sin, inward or outward; indwelling sin; which is made use of, when discovered, to abate pride, to lead to an entire dependence on Christ, to teach saints to be less censorious, to depend on the power and grace of God to keep them, and to wean them from this world, and to make them desirous of another, where they shall be free from it; outward sins, of others, or their own; the sins of others, of wicked men, which observed, raise an indignation in the saints against sin, and a concern for God's glory, and to look into their own hearts and ways, and admire the grace of God to them, that this is not their case; of good men, which are recorded, and may be observed, not for example and encouragement in sin, but for admonition, and to encourage faith and hope under a sense of it; of their own, for humiliation, which issues in weakening the power of sin in themselves, and the strengthening of the graces of others: but from all this it does not follow, that God is the author of sin, only that he overrules it to wise and gracious purposes; nor should any take encouragement to sin, to do evil that good may come; nor is sin itself a real good; nor is it to be said that it does no hurt; for though it cannot hinder the everlasting salvation of God's people, it does a great deal of hurt to their peace and comfort; and that it is made to work in any form or shape for good, is not owing to its own nature and influence, which is malignant enough, but to the unbounded power and unsearchable wisdom of God.

All evils or afflictions, spiritual and temporal, work together for good; all spiritual ones, such as the temptations of Satan, which are made useful for humiliation, for the trial of grace, to show us our weakness, our need of Christ, and to conform us to him, and also to excite to prayer and watchfulness; the hidings of God's face, which make his presence the more prized when enjoyed, and the more desirable. Temporal afflictions, afflictions in body, name, or estate, nay even death itself, all work together for the good of God's people. The Jews tell us of one Nahum, the man Gamzu, who, they say, was so called, because of everything that happened to him he used to say, "Gam zu letobah", "this is also for good": and they give instances of several misfortunes which befell him, upon which account he used these words, and how they proved in the issue to his advantage: agreeably to this is the advice given by them, "for ever let a man be used to say, all that the Lord does, he does for good".

Now that all things do work together for good, the saints "know", and are firmly persuaded of; both from the word and promises of God, and from the instances of Jacob, Joseph, Job, and others, and also from their own experience: and it is to be observed, that it is not said that all things "have" worked together, and so they may again, or that they "shall" work together, but all things work together for good; they "now" work together, they are always working together, whether it can be observed or not: prosperity and adversity, whether in things temporal or spiritual, work "together", and make an intricate woven work in providence and grace; which will be viewed with admiration another day: one copy reads, "God works together", or "causes all things to work together for good"; and so the Ethiopic version, "we know that God helps them that love him, to every good thing": and to this agrees the Syriac version, "we know that to them that love God, he in everything helps them to good"; and certain it is, that God is the efficient cause, that makes all things work together for his people's good. The persons to whom all things work together for good, are described as such

that love God;   a character, which does not agree with all the sons and daughters of Adam: love to God is not naturally in men; it is wrought in the soul in regeneration, and is an evidence of it; it grows up with faith, which works by it; without it, a profession of religion is vain; and where it is once wrought, it lasts for ever; it ought to be superlative and universal, constant, warm and ardent, hearty and sincere: such who have it, show it by a desire to be like to God, and therefore imitate him, by making his glory the supreme end of their actions; by being careful not to offend him; by delighting in his presence, in his people, word, ordinances, ways, and worship; and by undervaluing the world, and all things in it, in comparison of him; who is to be loved for the perfections of his being, the characters and relations he stands in and bears to his people, and on account of the love with which he has loved them, and which is indeed the spring and source of theirs. They are further described, as such

who are the called according to his purpose.   The called of God and of Jesus Christ; not to any office, or by the external ministry of the word only, but by special grace; from darkness to light, from bondage to liberty, from the company of sinful men to fellowship with Christ, from a trust in their own righteousness to a dependence on his, to grace here, and glory hereafter; which is done according to the purpose of God: the persons called are fixed upon by God; none are called but whom God purposed to call; those who are called can assign no other reason of it than the will of God; and no other reason but that can be given why others are not called; the time when, the place where, the means whereby persons are called, are all settled and determined by the will, and according to the purpose of God.  
From — John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

— Compiled by Randy Munter    Editor and Webmaster

Providence - As Seen in the Book of Esther
By Charles H. Spurgeon

"Though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them." Esther 9:1

YOU are probably aware that some persons have denied the Inspiration of the Book of Esther because the name of God does not occur in it. They might, with equal justice, deny the Inspiration of a great number of chapters in the Bible, and of a far greater number of verses. Although the name of God does not occur in the Book of Esther, the Lord Himself is there most conspicuously in every incident which it relates. I have seen portraits bearing the names of persons for whom they were intended, and they certainly needed them, but we have all seen others which required no name because they were such striking likenesses that the moment you looked upon them you knew them.

In the Book of Esther, as much as in any other part of the Word of God, and I had almost committed myself by saying—more than anywhere else—the hand of Providence is manifestly to be seen. To condense the whole of the story of the Book of Esther into one sermon would be impossible and, therefore, I must rely upon your previous acquaintance with it. I must also ask your patience if there should be more of history in the sermon than is usual with me. All Scripture is given by Inspiration and is profitable, whether it is history or doctrine. God never meant the Book of Esther to lie dumb—whatever it seemed good to Him to teach us by it, it ought to be our earnest endeavor to learn.

The Lord intended, by the narrative of Esther’s history, to set before us a wonderful instance of His Providence, so that when we had viewed it with interest and pleasure, we might praise His name and then go on to acquire the habit of observing His hand in other histories, and especially in our own lives. Well does Flavel say that he who observes Providence will never be long without a Providence to observe. The man who can walk through the world and see no God is said upon Inspired authority to be a fool—but the wise man’s eyes are in his head—he sees with an inner sight and discovers God everywhere! It is his joy to perceive that the Lord is working according to His will in Heaven, earth and in all deep places.

It has pleased God at different times in history to startle the heathen world into a conviction of His Presence. He had a chosen people to whom He committed the true light—and to these He revealed Himself continually. The rest of the world was left in darkness, but every now and then the Divine Glory flamed through the gloom as the lightening pierces the blackness of storms. Some, by that sudden light, were led to seek after God and found Him. Others were rendered uneasy and without excuse, though they continued in their blind idolatry. The wonderful destruction of Pharaoh and his armies at the Red Sea was a burst of light which startled the midnight of the world by giving proof to mankind that the Lord lived and could accomplish His purposes by suspending the laws of Nature and working miracles.

The marvelous drama enacted at Shushan, the capital of Persia, was intended to be another manifestation of the Being and Glory of God, working not as formerly, by a miracle, but in the usual methods of His Providence and yet accomplishing all His designs. It has been well said that the Book of Esther is a record of wonders without a miracle and, therefore, though equally revealing the Glory of the Lord, it sets it forth in another fashion from that which is displayed in the overthrow of Pharaoh by miraculous power.

Let us come now to the story. There were two races, one of which God had blessed and promised to preserve, and another of which He had said that He would utterly put out the remembrance of it from under Heaven. Israel was to be blessed and made a blessing, but of Amalek the Lord had sworn that, “The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” These two peoples were, therefore, in deadly hostility—like the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent—between whom the Lord, Himself, has put at enmity. Many years had rolled away. The chosen people were in great distress and at this time there still existed upon the face of the earth some relics of the race of Amalek.

Among them was one descended of the royal line of Agag, whose name was Haman. He was in supreme power at the court of Ahasuerus, the Persian monarch. Now it was God’s intent that a last conflict should take place between Israel and Amalek—the conflict which began with Joshua in the desert was to be finished by Mordecai in the king’s palace. This last struggle began with great disadvantage to God’s people. Haman was prime minister of the far-extending empire of Persia, the favorite of a despotic monarch who was pliant to his will. Mordecai, a Jew in the employment of the king, sat in the king’s gate. When he saw proud Haman go to and fro, he refused to pay him the homage which others rendered insincerely.

He would not bow his head or bend his knee to him, and this exceedingly galled Haman. It came into his mind that this Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews—and with the remembrance came the high ambition to avenge the quarrel of his race. He thought it scorn to touch only one man and resolved that in himself he would incarnate all the hate of generations—and at one blow sweep the accursed Jews, as he thought them—from off the face of the earth! He went to the king, with whom his word was power, and told him that there was a singular people scattered up and down the Persian empire, different from all others, who opposed the king’s laws and that it was not for the king’s profit to let them live.

He asked that they might all be destroyed—and he would pay into the king’s treasury an enormous sum of money to compensate for any loss of revenue by their destruction. He intended that the spoil which would be taken from the Jews should tempt their neighbors to kill them and that the part allotted to himself should repay the amount which he advanced, thus he would make the Jews pay for their own murder! He had no sooner asked for this horrible grant than the monarch conceded it. Taking his signet ring from off his finger, he bade Haman do with the Jews as seemed good to him. Thus the chosen seed were in the hands of the Agagite who thirsted to annihilate them.

Only one thing stands in the way. The Lord has said, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.” We shall see what happens, and learn from it.

Continued >>

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