John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence, Part 1

All right, let’s go ahead and start. I found that our time just flies by on Wednesday nights. And it’s hard enough what I’ve tried to do this summer. And I don’t think I’m ever going to do it again. But I’ve learned a lot reading a book a week and all that, but I’ve read ’em before. But I thought it’d be good for me to read ’em again and it’s been a challenging pace. But again, our purpose in studying in the way we are on Wednesday evenings is not to give a thorough and complete synopsis of these great works of Christian piety from the Puritans in one hour. It’s impossible. These guys were very thorough thinkers. That’s to me the beauty of it is that they think of things. And they turn the diamond, and light hits it in a way that nobody else has seen. And it just brings out evidence of the truth of the doctrines that they’re looking at.

And tonight we’re going to be looking at John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence. The doctrine of providence, which we touched on a few months ago in our systematic theology is a very great mystery. It really is. The idea that God, the sovereign God rules over all things for his glory. That sparrows don’t fall to the ground apart from the will of our heavenly Father. That even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That the lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord. These things are challenging to us, but also very comforting and encouraging as well. Biblical doctrine. It’s true but challenging. I was listening to a radio station, listening to the news. And the reporters were talking, not the reporters but the, I guess disc jockey. DJs were talking about the idea that some Christians have that, “Jesus gave me the victory in the football game,” and they were mocking this.

They thought it was ludicrous as though Jesus roots for the Redskins and not the Browns, this kind of thing. And it occurred to me how little they understand of this doctrine of providence. It’s not so much that Jesus roots for the Redskins and not the Browns. It’s not that at all. It’s that if he cares how a lot tumbles out into the lap, he certainly cares about a sporting event that hundreds of thousands of people are watching. He’s just playing a different game than we are. He knows that some need to win that game and some need to lose it, and that certain events need to swirl around before and after that game to accomplish his eternal purposes. He’s just working at a much higher level than we are, so of course he cares who wins each football game, each tennis match, each golf tournament, all of it matters.

Every little thing matters, but not in the way that these mocking DJs were thinking it mattered, as though God was the biggest fan in the universe and really had a team he was rooting for. It wasn’t that at all. So, we’re getting now into the doctrine or the concept of the mystery of providence. Look at if you would, Psalm 57 for this is where our author begins. In Psalm 57. It’s a Psalm of David, and David is dealing as so many of his psalms do with the persecution and the suffering that he’s facing in this case at the hands of Saul early in his life. David had a tough life and had a lot of enemies. I was talking to Jeremy earlier today about the average lifespan of a king of Israel or Judah. I mean I tell you what, you became king, and you weren’t long for this world.

I mean it was short. And so-and-so, he became king and he ruled for 25 years and that was a good one. 29 years old, 25, that’s 54 years old, and now he’s dead. That’s even worse for the ones that reigned for three months or 18 months or whatever. Those real short reigns. David had a lot of enemies, didn’t he? And how many of his psalms does he deal with struggling with human enemies? Recently I preached on the parable of the wheat and the tares. And I really believe that so many of the Psalms are given to encourage us in that struggle, the fact that we’re surrounded by unbelievers all the time. But it was David that was persecuted severely after he was anointed by Samuel. He was persecuted by jealous king Saul. If you look at the notation under Psalm 57, it says, for the director of music, you can see that, and then it says to the tune of Do Not Destroy of David and then a miktam.

Usually when you look at the bottom, it says, at least the NIV, probably a literary and musical term, that doesn’t get me very far. I don’t know if that helps you at all, but kind of like no joke. But anyway, that’s about what I expected. But then it says when he fled, when he had fled from Saul into the cave, so this is a very severe trial for him. He is running for his life. This is a man who wants to kill him. Let’s not make any mistake. Just as happened later with Absalom, they were trying to hunt him down and kill him. So, he’s in a cave, and he has the opportunity, as you remember, to kill his persecutor. But he won’t do it because it’s the Lord’s anointed. And this is what he says, “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. For in you my soul takes refuge. I’ll take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed” (Psalm 57:1) And then this is the verse that Flavel focuses on in verse 2, “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”

Now, what Flavel says at the beginning of this book is, “The greatness of God is a glorious unsearchable mystery, for the Lord Most High is terrible. ‘He is a great king over all the earth’ (Psalm 47:2). The condescension of the Most High God to man is also a profound mystery. ‘Though the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly’ (Psalm 138:6). But when both of these meet together as they do in Psalm 57:2, they make a matchless mystery.” Well, what are we talking about here? We’re talking about the concepts, the dual concept of God’s transcendence and his immanence.

His transcendence: the idea that he’s high and lifted up above all things. He’s a great King over all the earth before him all nations are like grasshoppers, like drops from a bucket. He is a mighty and a powerful God, rules over all things. And so, in Psalm 57:2 it says, “I’ll cry unto God most high.” The language, most high, is human or what we call anthropomorphic language. It gives us a sense of the power and the might and the position and the exaltation of God. We use this language to speak of something that’s mighty and high above us. And so up the language of up is the language of exaltation for us. Now we know that God is omnipresent, so he is also down, but positionally he’s up. He’s always up, high and lifted up. And he is exalted. So, God Most High or the Most High God. The highest God is the God who rules over all things.

He is an exalted God, a powerful God. This is the doctrine of the transcendence of God, or we also call his sovereignty, his rule over all things. But then the second half of the verse says, “I will cry unto God, unto God that performeth all things for me,” in the KJB, “he accomplishes all things that pertain to me.” Now, this is the doctrine of providence. It’s the idea that the Most High God is active in my life. He’s actually doing things for me, performing things at my level. Does God really do that? Well, the Bible says he does, and this is the mystery of providence. The seemingly self-effacing concept that God is too busy spinning the planets to worry about little old me is actually a great limitation on God, isn’t it? You’re really restricting his power when you say that. God is therefore not powerful and sovereign enough both to spin the planets and to care after little old you.

His is the doctrine of providence. It’s the idea that the Most High God is active in my life. He’s actually doing things for me, performing things at my level.

He can only do one or the other, and of course he wouldn’t do you, he’d do the planets. No, actually God can do both. He can spin the mighty planets, and he can look after every hair on your head. He can do all things. And not only can he, he does. This is the mystery of the doctrine of providence. Now look at Ephesians 1. The concept of providence could be broken into two portions. One of them has to do with God’s sovereign rule over all things for his own glory, the fact that God is a great king over all the earth. And you see that for example in verse 11 of Ephesians 1. “In him, we are also chosen.” It says, “having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” So, this is kind of the sovereignty of God over all things, and providence relates to that. God rules over everything, everything for everybody all over the world.

But there’s a second aspect of providence. And that is the specific action that God takes for his own people, the working he does in our life, in this language, in the elect or the chosen, but those that are God’s in the world. He does specific things for me. I’ll cry unto the Lord who performs all things for me. And who am I? Well, David. In David’s case, he’s the anointed of the Lord. He’s not just anyone. He is the chosen and the anointed of the Lord. And so, we see that also in Ephesians 1. If you look at the end of the chapter there, Paul prays that the eyes (verse 18), “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

He wants you to know what kind of power is at work in you if you’re a Christian. That’s important, isn’t it? It’s so important that you know how powerful God is on your behalf. That’s very important that you know what kind of power is at work in you. Providence would say also what kind of power is at work around you for your benefit. And he’s going to get to that in a minute, but you may know that this power is at work in you. That power, he says in verse 19-22, is

Like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule, authority, power and dominion and every title that can be given not only in the present age but also in the one to come and God placed all things under his feet.

You see that? That’s the general sovereignty of God. In this case, this specific verse, the general sovereignty of Christ, God placed all things under Christ’s feet. Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All things are under my feet, says Jesus. So, God placed all things under his feet. But then it says, “and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.” Now, this is very important. What it means is that his general rule and sovereignty and control over all things has a specific purpose and that purpose is his church. In other words, he’s ruling over everything for our benefit. Therefore, one of the ideas that Flavel brings out so beautifully for us is that providence can never hurt you. It can never hurt you. Nothing that is ever approved by providence can do damage to you. Now, it may be different from what you expect and what you would choose and desire, but God’s providence is always at work subservient or submissive to his promises.

In other words, he’s made promises to you. And then his providence goes out and works them out, kind of accomplishes his promises for you. And so therefore nothing bad can ever happen to you from God’s providence. Even though there may be what you consider great trials and great griefs and much sorrow and grief and trouble. Still, if God’s providence has approved it, it’s for you. He’s at work for you. He’s made Christ head over everything for the church. Isn’t that wonderful to think of that? Invasions, nations rising and falling and kings and kingdoms and all that, he’s thinking of the church all the time. He’s ruling over all things for the church for your benefit. He has you in mind. That’s incredible, isn’t it? And it’s so encouraging, the doctrine of providence. So we see the two aspects. Then in one general sense, God rules over everything just because he rules. He delights to rule and in a specific way, he rules for your benefit.

There’s another sense and a new verse that I’ve kind of understood perhaps in a different way. I need to research it a little more but look at 1 Timothy 4:9-10, it says, “This is a trustworthy saying.” 1 Timothy 4:9-10. “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. And for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” That’s kind of an interesting verse, isn’t it? I think that there are different ways to interpret it, but let’s come at it from this angle. Alright? This is kind of the new way that I’m thinking about this verse, is that in some way God saves everybody, but he’s especially the Savior of those who believe. It really has to do with what he’s saving you from. 

Like if he saves you from death or starvation or drought for example, he has saved you from those afflictions. And he is in that way the Savior of both the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous when he sends them rain and sunshine in due time. But he is especially the Savior of those who believe because he saves them from more things — ultimately from his wrath and from hell. That’s one way to look at it. A different way is to work with the phrase all men, specifically all types. But this is true, God is active and at work providentially all over the world all the time. He’s a king. He does that. He rules, it’s his universe. He likes to rule it, he likes to be in charge of it. And he enjoys the glory that comes from being king, but he’s especially providentially concerned over us. “God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). And so there’s that special providence. Do you see that? Both aspects in it? Alright. Now what Flavel’s going to do in his book is he’s going to first of all prove that providence is a part of our lives.

In other words that it’s out there. And he’s really kind of arguing against people, let’s say, that might think that providence isn’t there. Now he’s not taking on unbelievers. He says, I could never persuade you of this doctrine. It would be so offensive to you, absolutely offensive. He actually quotes Cicero on this if I can find it. I don’t know, but just the idea, I’ll just paraphrase rather than directly quote, but Cicero talks about this, the concept of an interfering God that’s in your face all the time. Those are not Cicero’s actual words, but you get the idea that’s so offensive to a pagan. They don’t want God in their face. They don’t want God ruling over every affair of their life. They want their freedom. And so, the concept of God that’s right there is very offensive. He’s saying, I can’t persuade a Cicero or a pagan, et cetera, about this doctrine, it’d be impossible.

But there are some within the church that would deny this concept even though it is biblical. So, he is working on those that are generally amenable to spiritual things and enticing them to see God’s providence. First of all, God’s special care for his people in stunning, what he calls “stunning supernatural rescues.” God is at work rescuing people all the time doing amazing things. How is it that in so many times the people of God have been saved from danger and evil by a power greater than the power of nature, and in a way which has often been against the course of nature? Numerous testimonies about this aren’t there? About how God interferes and rescues and delivers. There are psalms written about this, whether those wandering in a wasteland, or those in the midst of a storm out at sea. Or other things in which God interferes and in a mighty way providentially rescues and saves.

Secondly, strange coincidences. Strange coincidences. How is it that if they’re not ordained by special providence, that natural causes work together in such strange ways for the benefit of the saints? There’s a harmonious working together of things, and we’ve seen it, haven’t we? These strange providences, these coincidences, and as a Christian you begin to say that’s no coincidence. Something happened and it was the hand of God. And we’ve seen it again and again. Or third, powerful attacks fail, but weak defenses succeed. What is he talking about? Well, in a kind of a macro scale, he’s saying all the weight and the power and the law of the Roman Empire leaned on the church, this frail thing. Everything put out for its destruction, for its crushing, and it failed. The church thrived. The church succeeded. The most powerful force on earth could not extinguish the church. Meanwhile, what availed weak defenses, how did they succeed?

Preachers? He sends out fishermen, he sends out former tax collectors with a simple preached message. And they go conquer the world. This can only be the providential hand of God. God delights in frustrating these massive, immense, powerful structures by these frail weak reeds almost. That could barely accomplish anything it seems, if God were not behind it. It’s the very reason that he told Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Israel” (Judges 7:2). Too many, send them back. First in history, probably the last, too, that a general was told that and he obeyed, and said, I have too many men, go home. I need just 300 to carry some torches, lanterns and we’ll go see what God can do tonight. You see, this is exactly what God delights in doing – is frustrating powerful attacks and succeeding with these frail, weak defenses.

Also, fourthly, saving interruptions. If all things are governed by natural causes, how is it that men are turned from the evil way along which they were going at full speed, suddenly interrupted. They were intending such and such, and then suddenly they’re interrupted. Great example of this, of course, is Saul of Tarsus who had been breathing out threats and murder against the Lord’s disciples, full bent on bringing them in as prisoners to Jerusalem. And then suddenly interrupted. What could possibly explain this if not God’s interfering nature. He says, no, it’s not going to be what you say. You intend this, but I intend the opposite. Saul never imagined getting up that morning that he was going to end that day as a blind, praying man looking for Jesus. Waiting for Annanias to come lay hands on him, never, would never have expected it.

Fifth, special, specific judgements. If there is not an overruling providence ordering all things for the good of God’s people, how is it that the good or evil which is done to them in this world is repaid to those who bring good or evil upon them? And he develops this at length. He brings out examples of specific attacks, and how they are responded to by specific judgments lined up with the attack. A man digs a pit, and he’s the one that falls in it. Haman’s a great example of this of course from the book of Esther. He intends to hang Mordecai the Jew on those gallows. And he ends up hanging, not only him but all of his 10 sons. I’ve said this before, if ever there was a book that I think its whole purpose was written to talk about the doctrine of mysterious providence its the Book of Esther. I mean I really think that’s its whole function in the canon is that God isn’t mentioned once. The Lord isn’t mentioned once, and yet he’s so clearly ruling over all things. Flavel talks about the Book of Esther and says that there are 12 providential steps that lead up to Mordecai’s deliverance.

Everything from the king being unable to sleep the night before Haman hatched his plan, to having a specific book brought to him and opened. And a specific passage read, and then a question about whether that particular man had ever been rewarded. What are the odds that that would occur? God was at work; he was at work with specific judgments. He mentions a king in France that had made the rivers of France run with the blood of Protestants. And he ended up dying with a strange bleeding disorder in which there was blood coming from all over his body. And so, there was just a kind of lining up of the judgment. And also, of that man’s attack on the church. And many such things as this. Also, events lining up with scriptures. He says, if these things are merely accidental, how is it that they agree so exactly with the scriptures in all details? This is exactly what God said would happen, and then it happens. What else could it be but God interfering and bringing about his word, his promise?

And then amazing timing. Have you ever noticed this? The timing of things, things just lining up perfectly. If these things happen by chance, how is it that they occur at exactly the right time? It’s a remarkable thing, the timing. Have you noticed this in your life? Things happen at just the right time to accomplish God’s purposes. The timing of everything. And then finally, specific answers to prayer. If these things are merely accidental, how is it that they happen in accordance with the specific prayers of the saints who know that they have received very clear answers to the particular request they have made.

For example, David praying (2 Samuel 15:31), Oh God, frustrate Ahithophel’s counsel, make it foolishness. And at exactly that moment, it’s really coming down Ahithophel. His counsel is rejected by Solomon, I mean by Absalom, sorry, at that very moment, the timing of it. A specific, specific answer to prayer. Or we’ve seen in the life of George Mueller, the one who had over 50,000 specific answers to prayer. On his knees with his staff praying for dinner for the orphans that night and a knock comes on the door, and it’s a bread truck that’s broken down. We’ll never make it to the city. Could you use it? I mean, right, right there. Boom. Answer to prayer. Could it be more obvious? And 49,999 other ones, specific answers to prayer that are so encouraging to the saints. This prayer and this result, like the famous George Mueller fog story. Which if you hadn’t heard it, I’ll tell it to you another time, but he prays, and God answers.

And so, he’s accumulating evidence. How can all of these things be if there is not providence? If God doesn’t rule? Now these things, will they be satisfying to a pagan? Will they not see through it and see it as mere coincidences and other things? Of course they will, but we know better. And we look at it, and we say this is a great mountain of evidence that God does this kind of thing. That he’s involved, he’s active.

Now how does God providentially work in our lives? I’ll tell you what, as I went through this today, it just caused me to stop and give him thanks. And I really think that this is part of the purpose. As we see God’s hand in our lives, we should often give him thanks. As he goes through, as Flavel goes through these various areas, we should say, thank you Lord for what you’ve done, for the way you have provided for me.

As we see God’s hand in our lives, we should often give him thanks.

For example, providence concerning our birth. It says at birth, but really, he’s talking about from conception to birth. All of the things that he did in Psalm 139. You knit me together in my mother’s womb, surely, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. And Flavel talks at length about how the Hebrew word really means like painting with a fine brush. All the little capillaries, all the little synapses in the brain, language or terminology that we could use that he wouldn’t have had back then. But we have seen even more how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. And so, the providence of God knitting you together specifically in your mother’s womb and keeping you free from serious defects but fully fitting you for his purposes in life. And not only that, but giving you the special abilities, intellectual and physical abilities of your character. Just fitting you and preparing you even from your mother’s womb for whatever your mission or your calling was in life.

And then secondly, your providence concerning the time and place of your birth. Does God rule over that? Did he decide where you would be born and to whom and when? Yes, he did. He did. It is very clear in Acts 17:26 that, “God from one man, he made every nation of men, and he determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Well, that implies the exact places where they should be born too, right? Because if you determine the place they should live, then he would determine where they were born and to what set of parents too. And so, everything is worked out according to God’s providential plan.

Suppose, says Flavel, this is all coming from Flavel, it’s interesting. You had been born in the wilds of America. This was written in 1688, the wilds of America surrounded by Indians with all kinds of physical deprivations and exposure to the elements and all that. The more I read it, I said I realized what kind of courage it took to cross the Atlantic and settle in the colonies for them because that’s  the way they thought of it. And that’s not just the way they thought of it, it’s the way it was. It was a wild and rough place. You think about, for example, where the pilgrims settled in Plymouth, they landed in December. I’ve been there in December. It’s cold. There’s nothing there. It’s just a wind-swept kind of rocky promontory out into the Atlantic. And it’s a dangerous area. And they all thanked God for his providence, bringing them safely there. And then half of them died that winter. It’s an amazing thing, but that was it. Think then he’s saying, he’s speaking to an English audience now, of the providence that you’re born here and not over there. So, I found it interesting.

Anyway, suppose for example, you had been born to pagan idol worshiping parents in some wild continent of earth. Suppose you’d been born in a Muslim land to Muslim parents. What effect would that have had on your life? Suppose you had been born in Roman Catholic territory? Again writing in the 17th century when this was, they still were remembering the persecutions under Queen Mary for example.

Said that number six, suppose you’d been born in the days of Queen Mary when Protestants were being burned. This was a time of the Restoration, the Glorious Restoration so they called it. And William and Mary were on the throne. And it was exactly a hundred years after, and then you’re talking about providence. It was a hundred years after the Spanish Armada, 1588, 1688. So exactly a hundred years later and Flavel was preaching. This is a series of sermons of God’s providential care and concern for England. So, suppose you had been living in the days of Queen Mary. Or if you had been born in England centuries before when it was every bit as much pagan and idolatrous as some of these other lands you had in mind. So not just the location, but the timing of your birth and to which parents, the particular family.

A quote here that I found very helpful. He says, “Is it then not a special mercy to you to be cast into such a country and age when the true religion has the same advantages over every false one. Here you have the presence of precious means and the absence of soul-destroying prejudices. These are two signal mercies.” What is he saying? You have the good stuff, positive stuff here to help you. And you also have the absence of what he calls soul-destroying prejudices and overwhelming pressure to be a Muslim, let’s say, if you live in a Muslim village. And so, you have both the presence of the positive, good preaching, good teaching, you have the gospel influences around you. And then negatively you don’t have the false religion which has seized the soul of the village of the town where you live. And that’s a great grace from God, isn’t it? To be born into that circumstance, that situation.

And it’s not an accident folks. And we talk about the heathen or the lost on the other side of the world that lived 1500 years ago. First of all, there’s nothing we can do about them. They’re dead and gone. But realize they were born, they lived, and they died exactly where God ordained that they should be born, live and die. God is the one that controls that. And that’s exactly what it teaches in Acts 17. Let’s keep that in mind. Does that mean we don’t go out and have maps of missionary endeavor all? No, we’re thrilled because God has said that we must do this crossing oceans and mountain ranges. And so, the church has done that. But all I’m saying is that these things were ordained by God.

And he says, another mercy is the particular family into which you were born. To have for example, pious parents who prayed for us before we were born is a great mercy. Or to have our corruptions nipped in the bud by firm, godly discipline before they dominated us. And the children here. Yes, what encouragement is that? But it is, it’s a great mercy from God that you’re not allowed to be what you want to be. You say, well, I don’t really want to be wicked. Well, if you were born in another family, and they did not carefully discipline and train you, what would happen to you? And so, it’s a great mercy to be born in a family like that. It’s a great mercy to have parents who trained us in scriptures, pouring the good knowledge of God into our hearts from youth. And to have parents who walked in a clear pattern of holiness as examples before our eyes. All of these things are great mercies of God’s providence, nothing that we deserve but that we received.

And then also to be free from ungodly parents. Again, that idea of a positive presence and also the absence of something negative. Imagine if you had been born in a family that hated Christ. And that hated him so much that any motions that you made toward God toward godliness would be ridiculed or squelched or forbidden. So, you’d say, well, what if I didn’t have parents that were pious or godly or prayed for me or set a good example? Well at least maybe you had this, which is you didn’t have parents that actively oppose godliness and that sought to crush it wherever they saw it. All of these things, gifts from God’s providence. So, first of all, he starts with you between conception and birth. Then he talks about where you were born, what country and what village and to what parents specifically. And you got the idea.

And you can start doing this more and more in your life. To say if God really rules over all things, he deserves to be thanked for all things too, doesn’t he? And he really does deserve to be thanked. And so, we could go through an inventory in our lives. And we could just give him thanks all the time. And what would be wrong with that? I actually think it would be obedient to scripture. Give thanks for all things. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. So, I just found myself praising God for these things.

And then how much more God’s providence at our new birth. God’s providence was at work in bringing you to faith in Christ. “In nothing does providence shine forth more gloriously in this world than in ordering the occasions, instruments and means of conversion of the people of God. However skillfully its hand had molded your bodies, however tenderly it had preserved them, and however bountifully it had provided for them, if it had not also ordered some means or other for your conversion, all the former favors and benefits it had done for you had meant little. And so how sweet is it when you can trace out the hand of God in bringing you to Christ.” When you can see the things that happened to bring you to faith in Christ? This is a subject, says Flavel, which every gracious heart loves to steep its thoughts in. It is certainly the sweetest history that ever they repeated. They love to think and talk of it the places where and instruments by whom this work was wrought, exceedingly endeared to them. They like to talk about how they came to faith in Christ, and the people that sacrificed to bring them to faith in Christ.

The work that was done in their soul is a great joy to them. Now he notes that conversion is usually brought about in two different kinds of ways, basically to older people and to younger people. And each one comes with its own special providences, doesn’t it? To older people. By this we mean by older, I mean just established in life patterns and choices that they’re making, whether teen or even beyond. These are folks that have accumulated sinful, wicked habits by their unbelief for many years and yet came to Christ anyway. Now, what kind of providence does it take to bring somebody like that to Christ? To orchestrate things around them so that they get a good solid hearing of the gospel? Or just the right book to counteract all the effects of sin that they’ve accumulated for those years that they walked apart from Christ? Great evidences of God’s providential care to bring you to Christ.

But then what about if you were brought to Christ at an early age? And really can never remember a time you didn’t know Jesus? Well, what kind of providence was there? We’ve already talked about it. You were born in the kind of family that evangelized you from the start, and you never did know a time in which Christ was not in your mind and in your heart. My little boy, Calvin, every night he wants the Bible every night, Bible, Bible. I’m not sure yet where a Bible is “book” to him. I think it may be because he’s called a story about cats and dogs Bible too. So, we’re trying to differentiate Clifford. The big red dog is not Jesus, and he’s not the Bible. Alright? We’re trying to differentiate. And so, I’m not offended. He’s just learning language, and the sounds are little by little starting to mean something.

But he knows more and more Jesus means something. Because we pray to Jesus every night right before he goes to bed. He’s not yet two years old. We kneel down. Thank you, God, for mommy. Thank you, God, for daddy. Thank you, God for Nathaniel. Thank you for Jenny, for Carolyn, thank you for Calvin. He says me. And thank you most of all for and he always says Jesus. And so already the patterns are getting set in his mind. Now, years later, if God is gracious and brings him to faith in Christ, I can’t do it. It’s new birth by the power of Christ. I cannot bring him to Christ, but I can evangelize him. Alright? Years later when somebody asks, when did you come to Christ? What’s he going to say?

I don’t know. I just know I love him. I know he’s my Savior. I know he needed a Savior. I know these things. I just don’t know. And so, Flavel talks about that. He says in the former, namely the people who come to Christ older, that would be me. I came to Christ just before my 20th birthday. And so, I remember what it took to bring me to Christ. And I remember living apart from him. I know it, I remember. But he says the distinct acts of the Spirit in illuminating, convincing, humbling and drawing them to Christ and sealing them are more evident and discernible. They remember them. You see? In the latter, in other words, the ones that come to Christ at a very young age, they are more obscure and confused, but they’re no less present, they’re no less active. They just can’t remember.

But they were there. God was at work providentially. Note also, says Flavel, the wonderful strangeness of providence in casting us in the way and ordering the occasion and circumstances of conversion. There are so many wonderful stories like this, and I think it would just be delightful up in heaven to just hear everybody’s testimony. To have leisure, to just sit there and say, what did God do? What did God do to bring you to Christ? And I’ll tell you what, one of my delights, if I ever get the chance in heaven, if that’s an opportunity, is to trace my own spiritual lineage back to Christ himself. Wouldn’t that be exciting to talk to the person who led Steve Chamberlain to Christ who led me to Christ. And to talk to the person who led that guy to Christ, whoever it was, and go on back further and further until I get to the apostles and eventually to Christ? Wouldn’t that be something? That’d be exciting?

And all the stories of providence along the way, how this merchant met this salesman. And the two of them talked, and they had a conversation. Or how this woman trained her children from an early age. And all this, I don’t even know these people. I don’t even know what country they were in, but I want to hear those stories, the providential stories of bringing to Christ, the strange stories. And they are strange and they’re wonderful, aren’t they? And there’s one right in the Bible in Acts 8:26-40, the Ethiopian eunuch. What an odd way that he got saved. I mean when you stop and think about it, he’s in a chariot riding back to his home country. He’s been in Jerusalem. So, he is somewhat a believer I guess in Judaism. He’s reading at that particular moment, the scroll of Isaiah, the suffering servant.

The great unanswerable question of Judaism: who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else? When it says he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before shearers is silent so he did not open his mouth. Who’s he talking about? Well guess who happens to be there at that moment but Philip the deacon ready to go, ready to witness and why? Because the Holy Spirit had told him, go up to that chariot and stay near it. You’re going to have some work to do today. And so, he’s running along beside the chariot, can I be of some assistance, oh, Ethiopian eunuch? And he says, come on up. Well what are you talking about? Wow, what an interesting passage of scripture. It wasn’t this passage or that passage or the other, it was this particular one. All they had was the Old Testament. I can’t think of a better place to preach Christ than Isaiah 53. What are the odds? What a coincidence. Oh look, here’s water. What stops me from being baptized? The providences, the way it all just comes together, it’s incredible. It really is.

I mean, what was water doing there in the middle of the desert? It was a desert. Yes, go south of the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. It was a desert. And yet there’s water. Look, here’s water. What hinders me from being baptized? The providence of God. Aren’t they delightful stories? And what he says is, this is one of the most delightful things that a Christian can ever do. Is just talk about how God brought them to Christ, the things that he did. And for me, it’s no less delightful to talk about how you came to Christ. It’s all the same because it’s the same God. We’re going to the same place. What an enjoyable pastime. He also talked about Naman the Syrian in 2 Kings 5, how a kidnapped Israelite slave girl had said, “There’s a prophet in Israel who can take care of your leprosy for you.”

I mean, again, how the providences of God come together on that. What a train of blessed providence has this which seemed but an accidental thing. There he is talking about Jesus and the woman at the Samaritan woman at the well, right? But actually, it said in John’s gospel that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Why? Because there’s a woman there that he had to lead to fake. And so, everything’s all ordained, it’s all been measured out. He’s got to travel to Samaria, and he’s got to have this conversation. And why? Because there’s a whole Samaritan village that she’s going to bring in, and eventually they’re all going to come to Christ too. What effect is the whole Samaritan village of believers in Christ going to have in the world? I don’t know, we lose the story at that point, but it must have been great because God did great things.

Many accidental occurrences work together to get us saved. Many. For example, he lists one after the other. Scrap of paper accidentally coming into view. He cites a case that he had heard of William Perkins Catechism being used as a wrapper for something bought at a fair. Alright, so here’s this book, and whoever owned the book thought little of it. And started ripping pages out to cover things that he was selling. And so, he hands it to this lost person. And the guy opens it up and says, Hmm, what’s this? And starts to read. And he comes to faith in Christ. There are so many stories like this in church history. So many stories. Of a ship, for example, there’s a lot around Spurgeon. Spurgeon has lots of these providences. One of his sermons got in the hands of a ship in the midst of a terrible storm and somebody read the sermon and like everybody on board got saved.

I mean it was just amazing. Or the time that he went into a huge building where he was going to preach the next day to test the acoustics. And he just starts preaching, says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And there’s a workman up in the rafters who thinks it’s the voice of God. And says, he got saved, that brought him to faith in Christ. And it was just the witness. And he’s like, where is that voice? And Spurgeon must have had an incredible voice in that pre-electronic age to fill these huge halls. So, it must have sounded like the voice of God. But the providence of God, these stories, they just bring you delight.

Marriage for example, of a godly man into an ungodly family. This is not evangelistic marriage, that’s not what we’re talking about. Not ever encouraged. So don’t do it. But anyway, but suppose your wife has relatives who don’t know the Lord, and you would be an instrument of leading them to faith in Christ. The reading of a good book, says Favel. Even mistakes or forgetfulness of pastors. He cites three or four examples of pastors that had intended to preach on something but lost their notes and end up preaching on something else which is just perfect for a specific hearer out there. Incredible. Or the story of even how Spurgeon came to Christ himself. And how he was intending to go to one place for worship and there was a storm that night or that morning and a huge storm. And he turns off to the primitive Methodist chapel. And he said, I’d heard about them, and how they sang so loud they made your head ache. I never would’ve gone there if it hadn’t been for the storm. And it was this layman preacher that was preaching, “Turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth, for I’m the Lord and there is no other.”

And it was just, you got to read the account. It’s so Spurgeon, so earthy, but God used that snowstorm to bring Spurgeon of faith in Christ. All of these things. Committing of a godly man to prison. Even Paul and Silas, for example, singing praise songs that had an effect on the Philippian jailer and probably everybody else that was listening to them sing. There’s an effect, a leavening effect there as we preached on Sunday. There’s influence, things happen, things bump into other people, bump into other people and the gospel gets transferred that way. The scattering of Christians by persecution that happens after Stephen was martyred. And everybody was scattered except the apostles. Or a servant running away from his master. Another study in providence is Onesimus. Alright, Paul leads Philemon to Christ. He leads Philemon to Christ, all right? And then goes to Rome to preach. Philemon has a servant named Onesimus who steals from him and runs and ends up in Rome where Paul is. He happens to bump into Paul. And Paul leads him to Christ, too. And then sends him back with the letter that we call Philemon. Now again, what are the odds? Rome was a big place. And it’s a remarkable providence that this slave who had no intention of getting saved and was just trying to get away from anybody who knew him in Rome, would bump into the very guy who led his master to Christ. And then Paul sent him back.

Stories of ungodly people going to hear a preacher just so they could mock him, and then they come to faith. Stories like this, it’s remarkable. Dropping of a grave and serious word at a timely moment. Or the movement, coming and going of ministers of the gospel that come out of this town and going to that town. And even the most wicked acts of Satan in assaulting a sinner, there’s a great testimony that he gives of a man who was suicidal and actually did cut his own throat. And the wound was seen to be so severe that there was no way he could survive. Flavel came up to the room and said, you are minutes away from eternity. You need to come to Christ. And it’s interesting, he said, what are you trusting him? I’m trusting in God, I’m trusting in him. And he said, I doubt it. Flavel said this right to it. He said, because it says that no murder has any place with him, and you’ve committed murder on yourself. And the guy at that point melted and crumbled and was very open to the gospel. So he didn’t just say, well that’s good, let me pray with you. No, he didn’t accept that. He went past it, said, well, if you’re trusting in God, why’d you kill yourself? In the end, he didn’t die, and God saved him. And he ended up having a great witness and an impact. But it was Flavel that told the story. So, here’s Satan using suicidal thoughts to bring this guy to Christ.

If that hadn’t happened, it never, he never would’ve come. Providence not only brings us to Christ, it also carries on the work to completion by quickening and reviving dying convictions on one hand, or by relieving the soul when you’re overburdened by conviction on the other. And so, all of these things at work in bringing you to Christ. Isn’t that marvelous to see how God orchestrates these things.

Providence is also at work in our daily work in this life, giving us a calling, giving us a place in this world, a job to do. He talks about this and directing you to a calling in your youth. And not permitting you to live idle and sinful lives in leading you to a calling perfectly suited to you. You say, well, I quibble with that. I don’t like my job. Well, that’s your problem. You need to be content in what God has arranged for you and what he’s ordained, but he has led you to the calling that he had in mind for you. He ordained this and his providence is clearly at work there and settling you, he says, in a calling totally unexpected by your parents. Or you never would’ve thought that this is what you would do and now you’re called to it. And also in protecting you from financial ruin, and making your calling sufficient for your needs. So, he’s talking about how he’s at work in your job, in your career, giving you work to do on earth. King James version 1 Corinthians 7:20 says, “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.” He also talks about providence and our family life, not only in the family into which you were born, but then the family that is your own. Your spouse and your own children, how God was providentially at work there. That providence has a special hand in our marriage as evident both from scripture assertions and the acknowledgements of holy men, who in that great event of their lives are still owned and acknowledged the directing hand of providence.

That is a great encouragement I think to those of you that are unmarried and wondering how God is going to provide a spouse for you. I remember when I was in seminary thinking very much about this and concerned about it, wondering how I would ever find my mate. And this is a great concern. I see a number of you that I know are single. And it’s just so important that you learn to trust providence in this and not step outside of God’s will. Not step outside but wait for his timing. And set your standards by scripture and don’t waiver for them. And let God make you the person that you need to be before he brings the person that he has chosen for you into your life. Proverbs 19:14 says, “Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

Certainly Matthew 19:6, “You’ve heard therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” I would think that that would be a clear providential verse. It is God that brings them together. Certainly. So, providence is seen in appointing the parties for one another. It’s seen also in the agreeableness and harmony of temperaments and dispositions. You say, what are you talking about? Okay, well realize, just like my comment at the beginning about his concern over the football games outcome, God is at work in different things than you think. He has arranged the temperaments of your spouse for what he’s trying to do in your life. I think that marriage is a great workshop of sanctification. And so he has not necessarily chosen the spouse that will not bring those issues out that need dealing with, but one that will. But also one that can stand beside you and pray and be concerned and love you as you grow in Christ.

So, he’s chosen just the right temperament and just the right person for you. He has, and we have to trust him in that, in making one also instrumental to the eternal good of the other. That is providential. The fact that God has brought somebody into your life who cares that much about you. That is a precious, precious thing. It’s a beautiful thing to have somebody that’ll stand with you and pray for you. Also, providentially providing you with children, the fruit of marriage. We’re not owed children. Children are great gift. And I know that there are some couples that would love to have children and just seem to be unable to do so. And they would testify to how much they’d yearned to have children. And we should pray for them and be concerned. But also, those of us that do have children, realize how much they’re a gift from God, and we didn’t deserve them.

There are many times you think, I don’t deserve you my child, but that’s not what I mean. I mean it positively. Okay, moving on. Also, he gives a series of warnings, beware that you do not forget the care and kindness of providence. We’re easy and apt to forget God’s providence, aren’t we? Especially when things start to go a way different than we would choose. Do not distrust providence in future trials. Do not murmur and complain in new trials. Does that sound familiar, last week, right? Do you see how these dovetail? Last week we had The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. If God is not providence, you can’t be content. I don’t see how you could. Because if God isn’t ruling over the world we’re in, then we really are tossed and turned by adverse circumstances that have no purpose whatsoever. How could you ever be content in that?

But if on the other hand, God is providentially in control of all things, you can be content, you can trust him, that’s a good thing. So don’t murmur or complain in new trials. Do not show the least discontent at the lot and portion that providence carves out for you. Do not neglect prayer when trials befall you. How could you possibly pray and not believe in providence? You see what I’m saying? You are praying to a God that does interfere and rules and moves. And so, you need to remember providence by praying -specifically asking for what God lays on your heart to ask for. Don’t neglect prayer and do not worry your hearts with sinful cares. Sinful cares completely deny the doctrine of providence, doesn’t it? It means that you don’t think God’s ruling. Providence also keeps us from evil and sickness and danger. Sometimes, for example, by stirring others up to interpose with seasonable counsels.

Like for example, Abigail in the life of David, you remember the story. David and his men were kind of looking for work. They’re out there running for their lives. They got 600 men and all that, and it’s really kind of tough to feed that number of guys. And so, they were looking for a job and so they found one when this rich guy Nabal (the Hebrew word for fool), Nabal, has all of these flocks that are being sheared. David, being a shepherd from way back, knew the value of having safety and protection. Not just from wild animals, but from bandits and marauding, invading raider-type folks. And so, it says in the account that these men were like a wall of protection around them day and night and never stole anything. And that’s very rare to get guys that’ll do that and not steal. These were upright men who followed the rules, and so they were just a perfect complement so that the shepherds could finish their shearing work.

It’s a very tender and labor-intensive work. And so, David then sends some men to knock on the door at Nabal’s house, and say, we’ve done it thus and so, give us something that you might find around the house. It was just a polite way of saying, Hey, a worker’s worth his keep. And Nabal, just with a churlish answer, throws these guys out. He says, lots of welps are running away from their masters these days and sends ’em out. I actually think the story of Nabal and Abigail is one of the greatest examples of Proverbs 15:1, which says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” And so, his harsh words stirred David’s anger up huge. He got hot. And he says, all right, when these guys came back, he said to his men, “Put on your swords.” And so, he’s riding down. And the servant comes to Abigail and says, “I have a feeling that disaster is hanging over master’s house. And you might want to do something about it because this is what happened, and I have a feeling we’re in big, big trouble.”

And so, it says Abigail wasted no time. She gets all of these raisin cakes together and all of these provisions. And she moves out and goes and interposes with David. Now, if David had done what he intended to do, which is what? Murder every male of Nabal’s household, that’s what he intended to do. I use the correct word, murder, right? That would’ve been flat out injustice. It would’ve been evil and wicked. David had, I think lost perspective of who he was, and God’s 10 Commandments, and other things. He was about to sin greatly, wasn’t he? I mean, he should have just turned the other cheek and said, well, it was lost. What a waste of time, but I’m not going to go murder people because of it. And if he had been permitted to do that, let me ask you a question. What kind of king would he have ended up being?

Just very much my guess is, like the others, Hey, I’m in charge. I can do what I want. I can kill who I want. I can take what I want. But it was Abigail who with seasonable counsel comes in at the last minute and has that gentle answer that turns away rash. She says just the right thing. And she’s very clever about how she does it. She really is. Listen to what she says.

         When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “My Lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you, hear what your servant has to say. May my Lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He’s just like his name. His name is fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent. Now since the Lord has kept you my master from bloodshed, and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master, be like Nabal. (That’s a word of prophecy because Nabal is about to die. Very interesting.) And let this gift which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. And please forgive your servant’s offense, for the Lord will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master because he fights the Lord’s battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live, even though someone is pursuing you to take your life. (That’s Saul.) The life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God.

Now listen to this. This is my favorite part, “but the lives of your enemies, he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.” Now what does that remind you of? David and Goliath. Do you think she knew that story? Of course she knew it. Do you think David knew the story? Yes. Why did Abigail mention it? Well, she’s a clever woman. She is. She’s smart. It’s seasonable counsel, and she’s appealing to him. Remember what God did in the time of Goliath. And he’s going to protect you from Saul. “When the Lord has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and appointed him leader over Israel, my master will not have on his conscience this staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord has brought my master success, remember your servant.”

David said to Abigail (because I’ll be a widow at that point), Anyway, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.” I mean she was a gift from God to David, a very key woman really as you imagine what his career might’ve been like if he had gone ahead and done that. Because once you’ve killed once, it’s just easy after that to just kill again and again. Not that David hadn’t killed before, he was a warrior, but I mean this would’ve been different. It would’ve been different. And so, God used her.

And so, I think it’s important that we be used like this in other people’s lives as God leads you to say a word, say it because you might stop somebody from doing something evil and cut off so much trouble. The problem is these days we live and let live. We don’t say what needs to be said. And so evil just runs on unchecked and unchallenged.

But I think if we’re sensitive to the Lord and with humility, follow the rules of Galatians 6 and the others that tell you how to do it, go with humility. Go with gentleness, but go. God can use you in a great way to protect people from their own bad plans and from their own sin. Sometimes God interferes by hindering the means and instruments of sin like the story of Jehosaphat who made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel who was guilty of wickedness. And they made a bunch of sailing ships that they were going to use to sail, and God sent a storm and destroyed them. Said, you’re not going to have an alliance with that wicked king (2 Chronicles 20:35-37).

Sometimes by laying a strong affliction on the body, a disease or something. Sometimes by better informing saints of God’s word. He interferes sometimes by removing them out of temptations by death. It happens. God protects you, and there’s both positive and negative. Isaiah 57:1, “The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart. Devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.” See that to be delivered so that you don’t have to go through this sin-cursed world anymore. And then certainly 1 Corinthians 11:30. “That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep,” because of transgressions concerning the Lord’s supper. And so, you fell asleep so that God protected you from future evil.

Providence finally helps us to become more holy. This is so insightful on Flavel’s part. Now, there are two means or instruments employed in this work of sanctification. The Spirit, first of all, the Spirit who affects it internally, Romans 8:13, and providence which assists it externally. And the two of them work together.

Isn’t that a marvelous thing? The Spirit is at work inside you. And God is orchestrating stuff around you all the time so that sin gets dealt with and you grow in holiness. God is orchestrating these things. There is in all the regenerate a strong propensity and inclination to sin, isn’t there? Yes, it’s still true after 350 years. It’s true. And in that lies a principal part of the power of sin. Notwithstanding this double fence of God’s command and preventative afflictions, yet sin is still too hard for the best of men. Their corruptions carry them through all to sin. And when it does so not only does the Spirit work internally, but providence works externally in order to subdue them. The ways of sin are not only made bitter to them by the remorse of conscience, but by those afflictive rods upon the outward man, which with which God also follows it.

The Spirit is at work inside you. And God is orchestrating stuff around you all the time so that sin gets dealt with and you grow in holiness.

What’s he talking about there? It’s called discipline. Discipline from the Lord is an exercise of providence, isn’t it? It’s stuff that he controls in your life that he turns in a certain way to cause you pain. Why would he want to cause you pain? Well, remember what we’re talking about. We’re talking about discipline. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. If it’s not painful, it’s not discipline. It’s pleasant things, alright? Discipline is painful by definition or it’s not discipline. So, God extends his hand, pulls a lever or twists a knob in your life and something painful happens to you. And what is he doing? He’s training you not to sin. That’s what he’s doing. He’s training you not to sin. “My son do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what Son is not disciplined by his father?” (Hebrews 12: 5-7). So, any hardship in your life, I think it would be your first duty to get on your knees and say, Lord, is there some sin you’re disciplining me for? Don’t assume that there’s not. That would be making light of the Lord’s discipline, wouldn’t it? Making light means thinking it’s nothing. Well, I would think that this would not be nothing. This is significant. If God does something in your life to bring you pain, that’s significant, I think. So don’t make light of it by blowing it off. How would you blow it off? Don’t ask him about it. So, if hard things come, get on your knees and say, Lord, is there some sin I’m being disciplined for? It may be the answer is no. It could be that God is just testing you in a different way like Job. But it may be the answer is yes. And it won’t be long before you know, your conscience and the Holy Spirit testify, yes, there’s specifically something. And then you can repent. And what good comes out of that? Look at Psalm 119:67. “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.” It has a good effect on us, doesn’t it? And so, we see that internally, the Spirit is at work in sanctification, externally, also providentially. Not just in discipline, but just in giving you, I think, orchestrating circumstances so that you can grow. Specifically opportunities to grow. Alright, well we’re out of time as usual. Let’s close in prayer. (prays)

KJV Psalm 57:2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

“The greatness of God is a glorious, unsearchable mystery.  ‘For the Lord most high is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth.’ (Psalm 47:2)  The condescension of the most high God to men is also a profound mystery.  ‘Though the Lord be high, yet He hath respect unto the lowly.’ (Psalm 138:6).  But when both of these meet together, as they do in Psalm 57:2, they make a matchless mystery.”

I.  God’s special care of his people

A.   Stunning Supernatural Rescues

How is it that, so many times, the people of God have been saved from danger and evil by a power greater than the power of nature, and in a way which has often been against the course of nature? [these restatements of Flavel are taken from God Willing, Grace Publications Trust, 1997]

B.    Strange Coincidences

How is it, if they are not ordered by a special providence, that natural causes work together in such strange ways for the benefit of the saints?

C.    Powerful Attacks Fail, Weak Defenses Succeed

If the affairs of God’s people are not governed by a special providence, how is that the most clever and powerful means employed to destroy them have no effect, and the weak and feeble means employed for their safety are successful?

D.   Saving Interruptions

If all things are governed by natural causes, how is it that men are turned from the evil way along which they were going at full speed?

E.    Special Specific Judgments

If there is not an overruling providence ordering all things for the good of God’s people, how is it that the good or evil which is done to them in this world is repaid to those who bring good or evil upon them?

F.    Events Line Up With Scriptures

If these things are merely accidental, how is it that they agree so exactly with the scriptures in all details?

G.   Amazing Timings

If these things happen by chance, how is it that they occur exactly at the right time?

H.   Specific Answers to Prayer

If these things are merely accidental, how is it that they happen in accordance with the prayers of the saints, who know they have received very clear answers to the particular requests they have made (I John 5:15)? II.  How God works providentially in our lives

A.   Providence at our birth

1.     How God directly knit us together in our mother’s wombs

2.     In keeping you from serious defects, but fully fitting you for His purposes in life

3.     In giving you special abilities… both mental and physical of use in your mission

B.    Providence in the time and place of our birth

1.     Suppose you had been born in the wilds of America, surrounded by Indians

2.     Suppose you had been born to pagan idol-worshiping parents in some wild continent

3.     Suppose you had been born in a Muslim land

4.     Suppose you had been born in Roman Catholic territory

5.     Suppose you had been born in England centuries before, when it was pagan and idolatrous

6.     Suppose you had been born in the days of Queen Mary, when Protestants were being burned

“Is it not then a special mercy to you to be cast into such a country and age, when the true religion has the same advantages over every false one…?  Here you have the presence of precious means and the absence of souldestroying prejudices—two signal mercies.”

7.     Another mercy:  the particular family into which you were born

a.    to have pious parents who prayed for us before we were born

b.   to have our corruptions nipped in the bud by firm, godly discipline before they dominated us

c.    to have parents who trained us in the Scriptures, pouring the good knowledge of God into our hearts from youth

d.   to have parents who walked in a clear pattern of holiness as examples before our eyes

e.    to be free from ungodly parents… who neglected discipline, scorned religion, and opposed any motions on our part toward God

C.    Providence at our new birth

“In nothing does providence shine forth more gloriously in this world than in ordering the occasions, instruments, and means of conversion of the people of God.  However skillfully its hand had molded your bodies, however tenderly it had preserved them and however bountifully it had provided for them; if it had not also ordered some means or other for your conversion, all the former favors and benefits it had done for you had meant little.”

“This is a subject which every gracious heart loves to steep its thoughts in.  It is certainly the sweetest history that ever they repeated; they love to think and talk of it.  The places where and instruments by whom this work was wrought are exceedingly endeared to them…”

1.     Conversion is usually wrought in two ways:

a.    to people of riper age, already much steeped in the world

b.   to people of younger age, raised in godly homes

“In the former sort, the distinct acts of the Spirit, illuminating, convincing, humbling, and drawing them to

Christ and sealing them are more evident and discernible.  In the latter, these are more obscure and confused.”

2.     Note the wonderful strangeness of providence in casting us in the WAY and ordering the OCCASION and circumstances of conversion

Acts 8:26-30  Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road– the desert road– that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

Flavel also cited Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:1-4), in that God used a stolen Israelite slave girl to save him; and Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman:

“O what a train of blessed providences follow this which seemed but an accidental thing!”

3.     Many “accidental” occurrences work together to get us saved!!

a.    scrap of paper accidentally coming into view (a leaf of Perkin’s catechism covered something bought at a fair)

b.   marriage of a godly man into an ungodly family

c.    reading of a good book

d.   even the mistakes or forgetfulness of pastors

e.    committing of a godly man to prison

f.    scattering of Christians by persecution

g.   servant running away from his master (Onesimus in Philemon)

h.   ungodly people going to hear a preacher for mockery’s sake

i.     dropping of some grave and serious word at a timely moment

j.     the movement (coming or going) of ministers of the gospel

k.   even the most wicked acts of Satan in assaulting a sinner

Flavel told a story of a man who attempted suicide, and Flavel led him to Christ!!

4.     Providence also carries the work on to completion

a.    by quickening and reviving dying convictions

b.   by relieving the soul when over-burdened by conviction

D.   Providence in our daily work in this life

1.     In directing you to a calling in your youth, and not permitting you to live idle sinful lives

2.     In leading you to a calling perfectly suited to you

3.     In settling you in a calling totally unexpected by your parents or you

4.     In protecting you from financial ruin

5.     In making your calling sufficient for your needs

KJV 1 Corinthians 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

E.    Providence in our family life

That providence has a special hand in our marriage is evident both from Scripture assertions and the acknowledgements of holy men, who in that great event of their lives have still owned and acknowledged the directing hand of providence.”

Proverbs 19:14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Matthew 19:6   Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

1.     Providence is seen in appointing the parties for each other

2.     In the harmony and agreeableness of temperaments and dispositions

3.     In making one instrumental to the eternal good of the other

4.     In children, the fruit of marriage

5.     Note also after marriage:  God sustains with seasonable provisions as His wisdom dictates

6.     Warnings:

a.    beware that you do not forget the care and kindness of providence

b.   do not distrust providence in future trials

c.    do not murmur and complain in new trials

d.   do not show the least discontent at the lot and portion providence carves out for you

e.    do not neglect prayer when trials befall you

f.    do not worry your hearts with sinful cares, which deny the doctrine of providence

F.    Providence keeping us from evil, sickness and danger

1.     Sometimes by stirring up others to interpose with seasonable counsels

1  Samuel 25:23-33  When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name– his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent. 26 “Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. 28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD’s battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, 31 my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant.” 32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

2.   Sometimes by hindering the means and instruments

2  Chronicles 20:35 Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was guilty of wickedness. 36 He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber,  37 Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.

3.   Sometimes by laying some strong affliction on the body

4.   Sometimes by better informing the saints of God’s word

5.   Sometimes removing them out of temptations by death

Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

1 Corinthians 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

G.  Providence helps us to become more holy

“Now there are two means or instruments employed in this work (of sanctification).  The Spirit who effects it internally (Romans 8:13), and Providence, which assists it externally.”

“There is in all the regenerate a strong propensity and inclination to sin, and in that lies a principle part of the power of sin.”

“Notwithstanding this double fence of God’s command and preventative afflictions, yet sin is still too hard for the best of men; their corruptions carry them through all to sin.  And when it does so, not only does the Spirit work internally, but Providence works externally in order to subdue them.  The ways of sin are not only made bitter to them by the remorse of conscience, but by those afflictive rods upon the outward man, with which God also follows it.”

Hebrews 12:5-7  “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.