Joy in God's Providence

Joy in God's Providence  by Jared Waterbury The Bible teaches the doctrine of a particular providence. "Not a sparrow," says Jesus, "shall fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." This doctrine is, by the pious man, not only believed, but practically recognized in all the business and events of life; and it is this practical recognition alone that constitutes it a foundation of joy. How many are there who do not sympathize in the least with this view of divine providence. They are willing to install the great Creator on the universal throne, and pay him the homage due to a distant and comparatively uninterested monarch too lofty to stoop to the affairs of men, and too much absorbed in his vast empire above, to interfere in the concerns of this diminutive sphere. Hence, we hear so much of chance, of fortune, of second causes, and so little of the divine hand, in the vicissitudes of nations and of individuals.  The Scriptures teach that the bird that folds its wing and falls to the earth, or that is arrested by the archer's arrow and drops bleeding to the ground, is directed in its fall by the hand of God. Yes, even the hairs of our head, insignificant as they may singly seem, are still noticed and numbered by the Almighty. Not a step that we take, nor a purpose that we accomplish, do we take or accomplish independent of him. This is the view that brings God near; that acknowledges his hand in the minutest affairs of life, and yet detracts not from his dignity as the maker and mover of the spheres. He who 'lighted' up the sun, formed the moth that bathes its beauteous wing in the bright sunbeam; and that insect's existence as truly demonstrates the infinitude of his power, as does the great fountain of light in whose radiance it rejoices.

Joy in God's Providence

by Jared Waterbury

The Bible teaches the doctrine of a particular providence. "Not a sparrow," says Jesus, "shall fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." This doctrine is, by the pious man, not only believed, but practically recognized in all the business and events of life; and it is this practical recognition alone that constitutes it a foundation of joy.

How many are there who do not sympathize in the least with this view of divine providence. They are willing to install the great Creator on the universal throne, and pay him the homage due to a distant and comparatively uninterested monarch too lofty to stoop to the affairs of men, and too much absorbed in his vast empire above, to interfere in the concerns of this diminutive sphere. Hence, we hear so much of chance, of fortune, of second causes, and so little of the divine hand, in the vicissitudes of nations and of individuals.
The Scriptures teach that the bird that folds its wing and falls to the earth, or that is arrested by the archer's arrow and drops bleeding to the ground, is directed in its fall by the hand of God. Yes, even the hairs of our head, insignificant as they may singly seem, are still noticed and numbered by the Almighty. Not a step that we take, nor a purpose that we accomplish, do we take or accomplish independent of him.

This is the view that brings God near; that acknowledges his hand in the minutest affairs of life, and yet detracts not from his dignity as the maker and mover of the spheres. He who 'lighted' up the sun, formed the moth that bathes its beauteous wing in the bright sunbeam; and that insect's existence as truly demonstrates the infinitude of his power, as does the great fountain of light in whose radiance it rejoices.

The pious mind embraces this scriptural doctrine of a particular providence, and finds it both consolatory and encouraging. In all that relates to the external world– its physical changes, and its great moral and political events– the Christian man is busy in interpreting the will of God. Where other men are prying into second causes, and noticing their influence alone, he traces the finger of Providence operating through these causes in the production of the highest good. Here, his advantage must be conceded in having, above others, his heart fixed on the great First Cause, whose fiat is the law of the universe, and whose power, wisdom, and goodness, are pledges for the rectitude of his government. Let then the clouds rise ever so dark and disastrous; "let the sea roar, and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof," he can sit calm amid the scene, and sing of Him who, though "clouds and darkness be round about him," makes "justice and judgment the habitation of his throne."