John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence, Part 2

We’re looking tonight at the book The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel, or Flavel. And last week we looked at the first section in the book in which he basically proves that providence is a biblical doctrine. That providence, namely the fact that God rules sovereignly over all things in heaven and on earth, everything that has to do with his universe, he rules actively over to spare us and fall to the ground apart from his will. This is a biblical truth we talked about at the beginning last time of God’s special or his universal rule, the fact that it’s over everything just because he’s the King and the Creator. And then the special rule or special providence that God has over his people, that God specifically rules over all things for us. And so, we talked about evidences and just different ways that God has demonstrated his providence.

Everything from control of events surrounding your birth, where you were born, into which family you were born, et cetera. And all the circumstances of that and the way that God watched over you and brought you up, to the point where you were born again. And how you came to faith in Christ. And the circumstances surrounding that. We said that there are different ways that people come to Christ, two different categories. In some cases, they’re raised in Christian homes and families and never knew a time that they didn’t know Jesus Christ. And then there are others that walked for a long time in the world apart from Christ. And that there is special providence and special grace from God in either case. Either way, God does wonderful things in bringing us to Christ. We also talked about the providence of God in protecting us in this world, physically over us, keeping us safe. Keeping us also from ourselves. Providence in which God intervenes and prevents us from doing sinful things that we had our hearts set on.

The fact that God interrupts that as he did with David when Abigail went and told him that he should not slaughter all these men because they didn’t pay him for work that was done. And so, Abigail became a symbol of God’s intervening and providential care and stopping us from doing things that ordinarily we might do. And then God’s providence and the way that God rules over things in order to help us grow in our walk with Christ. Providence in making us holy. So that’s all by way of review.

Now we’re going to start this evening. I hope you all have the handouts there at the back of the book, back of the room there. Basically, how we are to respond to this. In the first half of the book, he’s talked about evidence that God does sovereignly rule. He says that it is a biblical and historical fact that God sovereignly rules over even the smallest details of life for his glory.

That’s what he’s proved in the first part of the book. Now what he wants to do is reflect on the need we have to respond properly to this doctrine. And he is going to zero in specifically on the duty we have to meditate on providence. Meditation: to think deeply about it. Now, we are a hasty people. We take a lot of pride in all the things we can accomplish. We like to rush here and there, and we do many things. And we think that our lives consist in the abundance of our achievements every day. You really think about how the pace of life has changed since the Industrial Revolution. The fact is the day used to be however many hours of daylight there were. Why would you want to spend money on oil for your lantern and all that? And so, when the sun went down, it wasn’t long after that that you went to bed.

And so, it’s a different era now. We pack our days filled with all kinds of things. Are our days any better? Are they any more filled with eternal accomplishments? I really doubt it. When I look at the Puritans and the things that they did, when I look at all the commentaries that John Calvin wrote and Martin Luther and all that, I wonder if we really are accomplishing all that much more for the glory of God. But I think one of the things that’s lost with this kind of a fast and hurried lifestyle is that we’re not very reflective. We don’t think much. Things just happen too fast. And we don’t take time to meditate and to think what’s going on in our lives. And so, Flavel is going to encourage us that we should meditate. We have a duty and responsibility to notice what God is doing in our lives. To meditate on providence. To think about it much.

I’ve been working, as I said on Philippians, and this struck me, Philippians 1:12-14. Paul says, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, as a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I’m in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” Now, what we have here in these three verses, Philippians 1:12-14, is the fruit of Paul’s meditation on God’s providence in his own life. He said, I want you to know that the fact that I’m in jail, I’m in chains, has actually served to accomplish these various things. Well, how did he know that? Well, you could say that God revealed it to him, but also, he took time to reflect on what was happening.

Now, why would a sovereign God who loves me, who’s working out all good purposes in my life, why would he want me to be in jail? He certainly has the power to get me out of jail. Definitely he does. Who is Paul writing to in the Philippians? He’s writing to the Philippians, right? What happened in Philippi? Remember Paul and Silas were singing in jail, and there was an earthquake, and their chains fell off their arms. Now, if that isn’t an amazing providence, I don’t know what is. I’ve never heard of an earthquake that releases prisoners from chains. You hear of earthquakes that crush people that are in buildings, but this was a remarkable earthquake. And the door flew open. It was just the way it was there for them to get out if they wanted to. And they didn’t leave. And the whole end result was the Philippian jailer and his family came to faith in Christ that night. What an exciting thing.

So, Paul knows very well that God’s able to get him out of jail if he wants to, but apparently he doesn’t want to. So, he’s reflecting, he’s thinking. Now, why would God want to keep me in jail? And as he starts to see what’s happening, he starts to realize little by little the effects of his imprisonment, the exciting opportunities he has to preach the gospel, which are reflected right in the Book of Philippians. And when I preach on it on Sunday morning, you’ll hear more about it. I’m not going to tell you now, but there’s all kinds of good things that are coming. He says, I want you to know that it’s really served to advance the gospel. You are seeing here Philippians 1:12-14, the fruit of Paul’s mature reflection on the events of his life. Now, we would just complain.

We’d say, I don’t know what it is. I’m here suffering in jail. I try to do the right things for God and look what happens to me. Paul goes deeper, doesn’t he? He thinks a little bit more, and he reflects in his life on providence. So, this is what Flavel says, God has first of all expressly commanded that we should meditate on his providence. God has called his people to make the most serious reflections upon his works, whether of mercy or of judgment. And then he gives us some examples. For example, the issues of judgment. Go to Shiloh, he says in Jeremiah 7:12, “Go now to the place,” says the prophet Jeremiah, “Where I first made a dwelling for my name and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.” Now why should the people of Jerusalem go to Shiloh?

Well, because they were lightly and easily trusting in a simple fact, the temple of the Lord was in Jerusalem. And if the temple of Lord is there we’re free from judgment, nothing’s going to happen to us. We can live however we want and say, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” He’s never going to erase that place that he put his dwelling place for his name. We are his people. He’s going to protect us. He’s going to keep us safe as he did in the days of Hezekiah, remember? How God sent an angel into one night? Everybody was wiped out. Well then, we can live however we want.

He said, no. I would urge you to take an excursion out to Shiloh because I once had a dwelling there too. And see what’s happened there. And you will see the judgments I worked on the people of Shiloh for their wickedness and their sin. And so therefore, what is the application of meditation on providence there? Don’t take it too lightly because I’m willing to do the same to Jerusalem. Therefore, you should repent. So, he says, while you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, “I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen. I called you but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh, I will now do to the house that bears my name, the temple you trust in the place I gave to you and your fathers” (Jeremiah 7:13-14). So, he applies it, and he says, take a trip to Shiloh, and you will see what I’ve done there. Psalm 46:8 says, “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has wrought on the earth.” That’s a clear invitation from God, isn’t it?

In the Psalms, come and see, come and look at the judgments and what I do to the earth. Why should we do that? Well, that we might understand him. That we might, for example in verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” But here again is a clear command from God to reflect on or meditate on providence. To think about negative provides. Now, I think that that should inform the way we’d react to a tragedy like 9/11. What would God say? Should we just take it lightly? Or should we take the time to reflect on our ways and consider? Should we say, well, this was an aberration, ordinarily God rules over all things. Ordinarily sparrows don’t fall to the ground apart from the will of God, even little things, but this, well, we don’t really know what category to put in it.

Flavel says we should meditate much on the actions of God in history. Meditate on God’s actions in your own life, both of judgment and also blessing.

It’s clearly a big terrible thing that happened. But we would never want to go so far as to say it was providence from God because that’s a negative thing that happened to Americans. Well, don’t be so hasty. Reflect a little. Maybe we should meditate some on the providence of God and not be so quick to say that this was not providence from God. Maybe we should instead reflect on our ways. And that’s what he says. Flavel says we should meditate much on the actions of God in history. Meditate on God’s actions in your own life, both of judgment and also blessing. So, he cites examples of judgment. He also cites examples of mercy. For example, our Lord gives us in Matthew 6:26 and 6:28, “Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” And then in 6:28 he says, “Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the fields, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.” Now, I worked on this verse today, and I’m a little bit off Flavel here. But based on this word, consider, the word, “Consider the lilies of the field,” implies a careful studying of the lilies, a deep pondering of their nature. Study them. Say, well, what are we to be biologists, botanists? Are we to make careful study? Well, Solomon did. Solomon studied plant life and all kinds of things. He looked very carefully at these things. Well, you tell me what Jesus means when he says, consider the lilies of the field. Look carefully at them, how they grow. Look at what they look like and how beautiful they are, how well apportioned.

So therefore, we have a scientific procedure. So, the procedure is scientific, the meditation is spiritual, but the application is psychological and very practical. Alright? First of all, look at the lilies of the field. Look carefully at them. Look how well-ordered they are and how beautiful. And consider the fact that God did it. That’s the spiritual meditation. That way it’s not an accident. The lilies of the field are so beautiful and well-apportioned. Not even Solomon was dressed like one of these in all his splendor. So, we are to consider, and we’re to meditate on this in a spiritual fashion, say God did this. That is the whole mystery of providence is to look around you in your life and say, God did this. God did this, God did this. That’s the mystery of providence. God did this when my child got sick. God did it when my child got well again, God did it.

God is active. God is moving. He’s at work. The mystery of providence. Now, it’s not easy always to see why God would do something and how he would connect it. And how it relates to his goodness and other things, but that is the issue here. Meditating on what God does. Consider the lilies of the field, he says, so we have a scientific observation. We have a spiritual meditation and then a psychological and practical application. What is the application of considering the lilies of the field that Jesus gives us? What does he say as a result of our meditation? Don’t worry. Don’t be anxious about your life, what you’ll eat or drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. That’s the application. First of all, internal and psychological. Don’t be anxious. But also, the pagans run after these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

It then has to do with lifestyle, doesn’t it? How you live, what you’re running after. Don’t run after those things. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. And so, it gets very, very practical. All I’m saying is that this is a very clear example of fruitful meditation on God’s mercy. Consider the lilies of the field. Look at what God has done. Consider and live accordingly. Also, we are to meditate on history. Deuteronomy 32:7, “Remember the days of old. Consider the generations long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders and they will explain to you.” God intends his people to consider the lessons of history, of his dealings in the past with previous generations. Perhaps one of the clearest examples of this you’re going to find is in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12. There, Paul says this, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers.”

Why did I stop there? Because what’s the first word? What’s the first word in the verse? For. All right, that makes you say, well, what went before it? Well, what went before it is 1 Corinthians 9. Let’s say 24-27.

Don’t you know that in race all the runners run but only one gets prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize. They do it to get a crown that will not last. We do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not box like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I’ve preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize.

What are all those words saying? Paul says, run the race with endurance. Keep going in your Christian life. The crown is not given just to those who start, but to those who finish. So, persevere in the Christian life. Put sin to death. Keep running with endurance. Run with the kind of discipline of a champion runner. “For I do not want you to be ignorant brothers about what happened to Israel.” You see the connection there? You persevere in your Christian life because now let’s look back at some examples from past history. Let’s see what happened to the Israelites. “I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact brothers that our forefathers (that’s the ancestors, that’s past history), were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them. And that rock was Christ.”

You know what he’s doing here? He’s putting the Old Testament, the Exodus experiences in very Christian language. He says they were baptized into Moses in the cloud, in the sea, baptized into Moses. What an oddity. But he’s saying all of them went through this experience with God. That was where it was happening. You couldn’t have been in any more God place than the Exodus. That’s what God was doing on the earth. They were baptized in the sea. Alright? And then they ate the spiritual food and drank the spiritual drink. He’s kind of likening it to the Lord’s supper. I think. Eating and drinking Christ. They all partook from those things, “for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. Their bodies were scattered over the desert.” What is he saying?

Well, this is a very, very serious matter. Just because they went through those experiences, they’re part of the big group, they’re part of the church, let’s say. They attended the services, they were baptized, they ate the Lord’s supper. It didn’t mean that they were saved. They need to run the race. They need to persevere. That’s what he’s saying. And then he says something interesting about history, and I think really about the whole Bible. Verse 6, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” Now, word example is very important. We have the old stories about God’s judgments on Israel in the desert as examples for us. They warn us, don’t they? And so, we consider the providences of God, and we learned something thereby. Verse 7,

Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 of them died. We should not test the Lord as some of them did and were killed by snakes, and do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel.

And then he says it again in verse 11, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” You can see what he’s doing here. He’s taking Old Testament history and ruminating on it in light of the Corinthians’ experience. Corinthians were living in a very pagan place. They had begun the Christian life through baptism by hearing the preaching of the word, by attending Paul saying, Run the race, the race of holiness, the race of putting sin to death, the race of walking with Christ, stand firm or run the race. And don’t think just because you’ve begun the religious life that it’s going to stand you in good stead. Look back in the past. So, what he’s doing is we have clear example here of ruminating on God’s judgments in past history.

Alright, so we have commands from God that we are to meditate on providence, both on mercy and on judgment. Secondly, Flavel says that neglect of this meditation is condemned as sin in scripture. Flavel says to be careless and unobservant is very displeasing to God. And Isaiah 26:11 it says, “O Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.” That’s obviously a great sin. When God’s hand is lifted high, we should notice, we should pay attention. That’s important, we should be observant. And so therefore, to be dull-witted and be spiritually like blocks or stones is condemned. Psalm 28:4-5, it says, “Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work, repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve. Since they show no regard for the works of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.”

So again, very strong indication that people are supposed to show regard for the works of the hands of the Lord. We’re supposed to show regard for it. We’re supposed to consider it. Think about it. Consider it as a weighty thing and not a light thing. It should matter to us what God is doing. Is God doing anything now? Oh, of course he is. Of course he is. Jesus said, “My father is always at his work to this very day. I am working,” said Jesus (John 5:17). He’s a very energetic, working God all the time. Can we be so dull as to not see his hand lifted up doing things? The point is we have to observe what he’s doing. We have to learn the ways of the Lord.

Also note the word behold in narratives. Have you ever noticed this before? Depends very much on what version of the Bible you read. I’ll talk about that in a minute. But the NASB does a faithful job in getting the word behold across. Genesis 6:13, for example. “Then God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I’m about to destroy them with the earth.'” Now what do he say behold to Noah for? What does that mean? Behold, watch, pay attention. Okay, don’t miss what I’m doing. Don’t think, wow, what a rainstorm.

You’re missing it, okay? If you think, wow, what a rainstorm, you are missing it. Okay? This is something I’m doing. I’m doing. And this is again and again, “Behold.” Exodus 7:17, “Thus says the Lord, ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I’ll strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.'” This is one of the plagues. Pharaoh, don’t miss it. You had a problem? You had a question? Who is the Lord? “I don’t know the Lord, and why should I let them?

Watch, behold, and you’ll learn who I am. Just behold, and don’t miss it. When you see the Nile turn into blood, then you’ll know. Did he miss it? Oh yeah, he missed it. That’s why there were 10 plagues, okay? He didn’t behold properly. But the fact of the matter is, God says behold means pay attention.

Sit up and take notice. This is very plain in 1 Samuel 3:11, “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Behold, I’m about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. Both the ears, not just one ear.'” In other words, God is going to do something that will make everybody sit up and take notice. And what is that? Well, the ark was captured. The ark of the covenant. Can you imagine if you were a Jew, and you heard that the ark had been captured by the Philistines? What a striking providence that is. It was so striking that Eli died when he heard it. He fell over backwards, and his neck broke. I mean this is big time stuff when the ark gets captured by the pagans.

Alright, anyway, behold. This word in effect is God saying sit up and take notice. In the Book of Revelation at the opening of every seal is the word, behold. Revelation 6:2, “I looked, and behold, a white horse! And he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer.” Now I love the NIV. We’re good friends, alright? I’ve spent a lot of time working with the NIV, and I don’t have a switch at the back of my brain switching over to a new version when it comes to scripture memorization, that’s just there. But the NIV does not do a good job on this word, behold. I did a study today on my computer and found that 495 times in the Old Testament and 194 times in the New Testament is the word for behold. And it didn’t translate it at all, nothing. It just dropped it out entirely. If I had the opportunity to ask the committee, what in the world were you thinking, that you could drop out such an important word as behold? They just didn’t think it was worth putting in there.

But that’s okay. Keep your NIVs, keep reading ’em and all that, but just realize if you’re reading a verse, there’s a good chance there may be a missing behold. That’s all. Yes, I know. (audience) I know that “see” is the way it translates it. There are 63 times that it translates with the word, see. So those 495 times were the other times that it just dropped it out entirely. Okay, so I was looking for the word see, but thank you for bringing that up. They want to bring instead of behold because that’s kind of an archaic word. Have you used it in the last week say to your children, Behold I’ve made you dinner. Something like that. It’s not the kind of thing we do. The NIV wants to bring it up in modern and it says see and that’s what it does. So you’ll see the word see occasionally, but most of the time it just drops it out.

God’s cooking all these meals, and no one’s eating them. We’re not sitting at the banquet table; we’re not seeing what God is doing. We’re missing it

So very good point. Thank you. Alright, so the word behold says you’re supposed to sit up and take notice at the providence of God. Now, D. If you do not meditate on providence, God will not be praised at all. Do you see why? God’s doing all this stuff, and you don’t notice? Let’s go to the analogy I used a moment ago. God’s cooking all these meals, and no one’s eating them. We’re not sitting at the banquet table; we’re not seeing what God is doing. We’re missing it, and therefore he’s not being praised the way he should be. Because we’re too dense spiritually to see what he’s doing and to give him the proper glory and credit. A good example will be found in Psalm 107. If you go through this time and again, it’s remarkable. It’s a systematic reciting of God’s providential deliverance. For number one, people wandering lost in desert, number two, prisoners sitting in chains in prison because of their sin.

Number three, people afflicted with grave illness because of their sin. And number four, sailors out in ships about to sink because of a terrible storm. In each case, they cry out to the Lord, and the Lord heard their cries and providentially delivered them. Each category of people is then urged to reflect on what God has done and to give thanks to him. It’s the same thing over and over in Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, and 31, it says, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.” Now this is so important. Do you realize how important this issue of thanksgiving is? In Romans 1, it says that the pagans neither glorified God nor gave thanks to him, but in their thinking, they became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. God is expecting, frankly, a river of thanksgiving from us to him.

You know why? Because he’s giving us a river of providences down. A river of good things come to us every day. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good. And sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. And he should be thanked for those things. It’s evidence of a healthy heart to be very, very thankful. And I think if you’re so busy thanking God for his providences, you will not be able to complain and murmur against him because your mouth will be filled with praise and thanksgiving for the good things that God has done. And I believe you want to live that way. I would much rather be a thanksgiving-filled person than a complaining person. And God has many things to be thanked for. He is giving us a river of good things. Providence is beyond compare. And so, if we don’t do this, if we don’t notice what God’s doing. If we don’t meditate on his providence, and if we’re not prepared, getting ready to say thank you to God throughout the day, we won’t say thank you.

And frankly, what’s going to end up happening is we’re going to start to get dominated by the negative things that we see. And we won’t even see them as providences from God because we’re not in the habit of doing that. And so, we won’t thank him for those things either. We’ll start to get negative and bitter toward things. When on the other hand we should see everything as coming from the hand of a wise God, both those things we would choose and select for ourselves and those things we would not choose for ourselves. All of it coming from God and he deserves to be thanked for it, all of it. And so, if we don’t, God will not be praised adequately. At the end of Psalm 107, the psalmist says, “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.”

Do you see that? If you’re wise, you’re going to heed providence. If you’re wise, you’re going to consider, meditate on, think about the great love of God. Okay, reflecting on God’s providence in these deliverances is a mark of wisdom clearly commanded from God. Now if we do not meditate on providence, we will also miss the benefits of what God is doing. We’ll miss the benefits of God’s works. Flavel will put it this way, “This meditation on God’s providence is the food our faith lives upon in days of distress. From providences past saints argue to fresh and new ones to come.” So, in other words, you are going through a trial. Let’s say you’re going through difficulty. God is trying to feed you, and you are not taking the food, you’re not eating. You’re not taking, let’s say the medicine. You’re not taking in what you need. And so therefore the affliction, the difficulty, is making you weaker and more discouraged and more depressed, and the devil’s active and all that.

Instead, God wants to give you a feast of providence in addition to a feast of scripture. We’ll talk about that more later. They really fit together, absolutely they must. But the fact is God wants to feed you and you’re not eating. You’re not taking in what he would have you do. So, you’re missing the benefits of God’s work. And so, I like that, “the saints look on past providences to argue to fresh new ones.” God’s done all this in the past. He’ll do something today and in the future. You see that’s the purpose of the 12 stones taken out of the middle of the Jordan River. Joshua 4:4-7:

So Joshua called together the 12 men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe. And said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you ‘What do these stones mean?’ Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed before the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

So, he wants you to have in effect, if I could say it this way, piles of stone in your life, memorials to the things God’s done in the past. And not just in your life but also in scripture. Things that you can say here was the activity of God. God is a faithful God. God is a loving God. Look what he’s done. And so, in this way you can say when your children say, “What do these stones mean?” God is a faithful God. God is a mighty God. And so that’s what it is. God’s past faithfulness to Israel memorialized by these stones. Or for example, God’s past faithfulness to David, which gave him courage against Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17:37, the Lord said, “David said, ‘The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'” Oh, isn’t that interesting? David meditated on and reflected on the deliverance of God from animals, right? He was a shepherd. He went out there to protect the sheep. And he killed a lion, and he killed a bear, right? Now, others might’ve said, what a mighty shepherd boy I am. Look what I can do with my sling.

He didn’t do that. What did David think about that? God rescued me. God delivered me. David learned to meditate properly on providence. So, he looked at that, not as some great thing he’d done, but some great providence from God. A deliverance protecting his sheep and also saving his life. Well, if that’s the case, then by that time he is so trained in looking at things this way, when he sees this Philistine and thinks not if he had done it wrong before, what a mighty guy I am. I delivered myself from the bear and the lion, but I can’t take that guy on. He’s bigger and stronger than me. Well, he would’ve missed what God was doing in his life. But instead, he had this one application: God delivered me from these animals, God can take him on too. He is nothing compared to God. I don’t care if he’s 50 times bigger than that. God made heaven and earth. And so, he’s ready for the next trial.

You see reflection on past providences gets you ready for the present or the future trials. But how impoverished are we if we don’t live a reflective life? We don’t ever think about it. We think that we’re the ones that delivered ourselves from the lion and the bear. Yes, (AUDIENCE) We certainly don’t have to have, are not promised anywhere a full understanding, by faith. Exactly. And what you’re going to do is you’re going to take principles of scripture. You’re going to say God has good purposes toward me. Therefore, everything God does toward me is ultimately good. Everything works out for good in my life, but I don’t know how the gears fit together. If I were told to put the pocket watch together, I couldn’t do it. If I had all the assembled parts, the parts disassembled on my workbench, I do not have the skill to assemble them. God alone has that skill.

But I do know that this little gear as I look at it, is for God’s glory and for my ultimate benefit. So, you just start to think that way. You start to consider; you don’t necessarily know exactly how it all works. Job, I think was misinterpreting the providences of his life, but he did know at least it was coming from God. The Lord gave and the Lord took away, now that at least he knew. And I think in that way he was further along than his friends in this meditation. That’s a good question. Also, God’s faithfulness in delivering Paul from perils was ground for his present and future confidence as well. 2 Corinthians 1:10, “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.” Do you see that? He’s been faithful up to now, and he’s going to keep being faithful.

He will deliver us. That’s what he says. Also, Christ’s past miracle in feeding the 5,000 was to give the apostles freedom from concern over food. Remember that? In Matthew 16, they were arguing because somebody forgot to bring the bread. I don’t know whose turn it was; it didn’t say in the text. You can speculate. It probably was Peter’s is my guess. It was Peter’s turn to bring the food, but he forgot and they’re going to the other side of the desert region. And there’s nothing over there. And so, they’re arguing just like we would’ve done. We would’ve argued, it’s your fault. What’s your well back and forth? And Jesus is saying, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they’re saying it’s because we didn’t bring any bread. He’s using a bread analogy, and he’s saying, don’t you understand, don’t you get it?

Don’t you understand or remember the five loaves to the 5,000 and how many basketfuls you gathered? Do you see what Jesus is doing? He’s arguing back from the past providence, the miraculous feeding to the present situation. There’s no bread in the boat. Do you see that? Don’t you remember? Don’t you know the lesson of the feeding of the 5,000? You should not be concerned about the fact there’s no bread in the boat. There was no bread up on that hill either, and God took care of us. You are not going to starve to death. It isn’t going to happen. You may be hungry tonight because Peter didn’t bring the bread. That may happen, but you’re not going to starve. Now, focus on what I’m saying. Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, meaning their false teaching. So, what he’s doing, the purpose of the miracle, at least here in Matthew 16, is to free them from concern about their stomachs so that they could follow him in service.

They didn’t get it though. They should have meditated. What did I learn here? God can feed me anytime. That’s what I learned. God can feed me in the middle of a desert. God can feed me when there’s no food around. He can take care of that. So, let’s forget about food and go serve the Lord, and he’ll take care of me. Alright? Now, if we do not meditate properly we dishonor God. God comes near to us every day in constant providential blessings. To fail to meditate on them and to fail to thank God is a great dishonor to him. Also, proper observation of providence is essential to a healthy prayer life. I mean, you really can’t pray unless you believe in providence, right? We’re not deists believing that God is somehow remote and not involved in everyday life. If you were deist, you would never pray.

Why pray? But we are praying to an interfering God, aren’t we? We’re praying to a God that’s actually going to get involved in somebody’s life and do something. And not just somebody’s life but everybody’s life, doing everything. He’s just that way. And so, we are on our knees before a providential God. Well, if you don’t believe in and meditate on, think about providence, your prayer life will be restricted I think. But the more you meditate, the more hand of the Lord you see. You’re going to start praying about more and more things. And you’re going to start seeing more and more answers to prayer just like George Mueller and others did. You’re going to see amazing providences. God is faithful in that way. Okay? These are the issues of meditation, why we should meditate. Why it is the duty of every Christian to meditate on the providence of God.

Any questions about that section of Flavel’s book? Yeah (audience), he’s going to get to that here. It’s a good question. On page five here, he’s going to say, this is the whole section here on how to meditate in the province of God. And the second one is, think how the word of God is fulfilled in this or that providence. So, he’s going to marry them together. Yeah, really. And frankly it has to be. If I can just jump ahead and talk about this since you brought it up at this point, you see how scripture must interpret providence. Do you understand why that must be the case? Because I mean you could have people in other religions just saying, well this proves that Buddha answers prayer or this proves that. I mean no, I mean providence is a lesser form of revelation to scripture. Scripture’s clearer than providence.

Things happen, and we don’t know what God is saying thereby. I mentioned earlier 9/11. I can’t tell you exactly what God was saying there, but I do know he was speaking. And it’s sinful and wrong and unbiblical for us to say God had nothing to do with that and wasn’t involved at all. That’s not the world I understand. I mean, how could it be? A sparrow doesn’t fall the ground, God’s really into sparrows, but he doesn’t care about jets filled with crashing into buildings. Of course he does. And Jesus is arguing from the lesser, the greater from the, I say more surprising to the less surprising. It’s more surprising that God would care how many hairs are on your head. It’s more surprising that God would care what happens to a sheep or what happens to a sparrow. That’s more surprising. We would think he’s too busy for that.

It’s less surprising that he would care about an airplane full of people that destroys a landmark building in a city. You would think that’s exactly the kind of thing God would be involved in and aware of and he is. So, all I’m saying is that we can’t properly interpret providence absolutely, anyway. Even with a knowledge of scripture, he’s not going to tell us every single detail. J. I. Packer said it’s like this, “If you could imagine going to the top of the control area of a busy train station where you see the map of every train coming in and out of the station and you get the whole big picture and everything’s up there. God doesn’t promise to do that for you. And he won’t do it for you. Not even necessarily in heaven will you fully understand absolutely every little providential detail.” He’s not promised that. You’ll know him fully as you are fully known, that kind of thing.

But God isn’t promising us omniscience in the matter of providence. Alright? But what he is saying is that you will have general principles that will enable you joyfully to go through any trial and any circumstance in your life. Fruitfully and joyfully, you’ll be able to go through it. Without knowing specifically how the details work together. So, I think the question, and I think for me, I’m looking to scripture to say generally, how do I learn and think about providence? What are the kinds of things that God does? It bothers me when evangelicals say that God would never bring an illness into a family. God is good and loving and he doesn’t do that. That’s got to be the devil. That’s just unbiblical. It’s just flat out unbiblical. And I think it’s damaging and harmful because then it becomes like a dualistic universe we live in which the devil and Jesus are kind of fighting it out on more or less equal terms. And the devil won this one, but maybe Jesus will make a comeback.

To me, this is so faulty, and I think it’s damaging. I know we’re trying to protect God as a loving God that he would never do that kind of thing, but it isn’t so. God poured out his own Son unto death on the cross. He did that. He crushed Jesus on the cross. Isaiah 53 says so, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” And if he does that to his beloved Son who’s worth so much more than any of us, why would he refrain from doing that in our families or to us personally? So, he does, but the question is how should we think about that? How do we understand that? That’s a different question. Alright, how to meditate on the providence of God. The first step is work at it. It’s kind of like people ask me about or memorizing scripture.

How do you memorize scripture? Here it is. Here’s the big secret. Alright, repetition over time. There it is. Alright, there it is. The big secret of scripture memorization, repetition over time. Well, I knew that. Well yeah, but did you do it? That’s the whole thing. Repetition over time until you get it, and then you got it memorized. Same thing with meditation. You have to work at it. You have to clear out time for it. You have to clear out your mind for it. You have to make more time in the morning for it during your quiet time in which you just lay on your bed or kneel before him and say, “Lord, I just want to thank you for things that are going on in my life. I want to just think about and thank you for this and that and the other, for these people, for these events, for these trials, for these blessings. I want to thank you.”

And when you’re doing that you’re strengthening the muscle of providence or meditation on providence. Work at it. Think as deeply as you can and for as long as you can about the providences of God. Flavel says, “Oh, fill your hearts with the thoughts of him and his ways. If a single act of providence is so ravishing and transporting, what would many such be if they were presented together to the view of the soul?” Isn’t that wonderful? I mean, if just one of them is worth a lot of meditation, think about a whole life’s worth. What is everything that God’s doing in your life right now? Do you realize how busy he is in your life? There’s lots of things going on, he deserves to be thanked and praised. Search backwards and trace out God’s providence in your lives. Luke 1:49, Mary said, “For the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name.” Can you say that? Can you say the mighty one has done great things for me? Well, he has. He has. And I think he’s honored if you go back even in your own history and see what some of them are. What are some of the ways that God’s put some things together in your life and in your heart? “Also let your thoughts be full and heavy with significance.” Flavel said. “Don’t let your thoughts swim like feathers upon the surface of the water, waters, but sink like lead to the bottom of the matter.” Think deeply about it. Say, God, you are really at work here. God, this wasn’t some afterthought, but you had worked this whole plan out. You married couples, think of how healthy your marriages would be if you really thought and continued after many years. This was God’s choice for me.

This person was God’s choice. And you did all these wonderful things in bringing us together. I think that just so much health can come. Same thing with parents concerning their children. You were God’s choice. God, you ordained that this child be born in my family. Consider details such as the timing of God’s special care, the special tenderness and kindness seemingly tailored to our particular needs. The human instruments that God used to bless us. Who were they? What are their names? And how did God use them to disciple us, to pray for us, to encourage us in some way. Work at it. That’s what he’s saying. Secondly, think how the word of God is fulfilled in providence. Flavel says this, all providences are in some sense supported by scripture’s promises. I mean there’s no providence that comes to you that God didn’t general at least that he would do, that kind of thing.

The scripture is complete in this area. Everything’s covered, everything generally. Let’s put it that way. Joshua 23:14, Joshua puts it this way, “Now, I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know with all your hearts and souls, that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled. Not one has failed.” Isn’t that wonderful? What a beautiful thing to be able to say on your death bed. You’re lying there and say, I want you to know as long as God gives me breath, I want to tell you a hundred promises that God made to me that have been fulfilled. I want to tell you how God has been faithful. Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God never gave up on me.

And I’m lying here on my death bed to testify to God’s faithfulness. Though I have sinned many times and grievously against him, he never gave up on me, but continues to work on my soul even to this time. And if God should raise me up out of this bed, he’ll just keep working in me. This is a wonderful thing to be able to do. God’s promises as a supporting bedrock or foundation for his providences. Also 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has granted to us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness, through these, he has given us his very great precious promises” (paraphrase). So, there are the promises connected to life and godliness. You see it, everything we need. So therefore, we should try to connect God’s providence to you to specific texts of scripture.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful to do? Instead of just thanking God for food next time, look up a scripture that says that God will feed you. A promise that he makes that he’ll feed you. Matthew 6:26 would be fine. He says, “Look at the birds of the air: they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” That’s an implicit promise, isn’t it? And actually, he makes it explicit a couple verses later when he says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). There it is. There’s the promise. So, you can say, Lord, I thank you tonight as we bow over this food, that you are fulfilling your promise that you made would meet our needs and we praise you for it. So, you could do that and just connect it to scripture.

This is especially true when God providentially disciplines us. What do I mean by providentially disciplines us? Well, I’ve been speaking of a God who controls the universe. A God who runs things in your life. That means that he can do discipline that you can’t even dream about. I mean everything is available to him. And I’ve counseled before with people that are struggling with severe sin, and I’ve said, do you not understand if you’re a child of God – do you not understand what is available to God to bring you to heel? Do you not see what he can do to get you broken and repentant of the sin? And how much he’s willing to do? God would much rather use the rod of discipline on you than give you over to sin if you’re a child of God.

Now, if you’re not, he’ll give you over to sin, and then you’ll be condemned. And that’s far worse. But here the fact of the matter is providentially, God runs everything in your life. And so that means physical health, relationships, materials, possessions, prestige, anything of value to you. He knows what’s valuable to you, and where it fits in. And he knows at what level to discipline you. And I think it’s important to realize. Talk about meditating on providence, if you don’t meditate on discipline, you’ll miss the point. Totally miss it. I mean, what good would it be if you just thought, ah, that just happened. It didn’t just happen. It was a discipline. And so, it says, “Do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline” (Hebrews 12:5). Don’t make light of it. Meditate on it. Think, “God, what are you saying to me here? What happened?” Okay. Especially true when God providentially disciplines us. Psalm 94:12, “Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law.” Isn’t that a great verse? It connects the discipline to taking time to learn from God’s law what the issue is, alright. God, how did I violate your law? What did I do that displeased you?

Now warning, as I mentioned before, without scripture’s guidance, it is very easy to misinterpret acts of providence. This is especially true for younger Christians. And I found it can frequently be connected to something they really want, like a job situation or a mission kind of thing. Or a spouse. They’d like somebody to be there. And they start reading “signs”, providential signs that this is definitely the person for them or definitely the situation. And you look at that and you say, well, it’s hard to look at the blowing of a wind in a certain moment in answer to prayer. Or whatever and say, definitely, definitely God did that. I’m saying that scripture is a more certain guide than these kinds of providential things. Did God control the wind? Yes. Did he know that you prayed right at those moments for the wind to blow in a certain way?

Yes, he did. But what I’m saying is I’m not so sure that you can therefore conclude that you’re going to get the thing you asked for because the wind blew at that moment. You see what I’m saying? Scripture is a more certain guide and scripture stands and judges all of our private experiences. Stands over them and judges them. So, if you ever think that God is allowing you to do some sinful thing condemned in his law because of some providential lining up of circumstances, you are so wrong. People know that God wills for me to divorce my wife or my husband because these things happen. I don’t care what the list is. I don’t care if it’s a hundred things long. It is not God’s will because the scripture says no, that’s all. So, providence is lower than scripture. And scripture interprets all of our private experiences.

So that’s a very important warning. The word also sustains you during adverse providences exhorting you to patience. So, you got to feed on the word while you go through difficult providences. Alright, see on how to meditate on the providence of God. Be sure that you see God as the one who causes and orders all the events of providence. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” What does that mean? It means in everything you do say, you are God here, you’re in charge. You rule. And he will direct your paths. Do not forget God’s overall commitment to do you good all the days of your life. Isn’t that wonderful? That is so wonderful. You think about the Proverbs 31 woman, talking about a godly wife. She does him good not ill all the days of his life.

Well, that’s even more true of God. It is even more true of God. He does you good and not ill every day of your life. And you could say, well, how can going through afflictions? It’s good. It’s good for you. It’s one of the things he says, I forget what page. Yeah, page seven, “Consider your sin during times of afflictions. Two key questions. First of all, consider what your sin truly deserves from God. And secondly, consider what will it take to get you weaned off of sin?” Is that an easy thing, to get you to stop sinning? To stop loving the things of the world? No. Well, what’s it going to take? Is it going to take your favorite foods and your best weather patterns, the things you like the best in life? Probably not. It’s going to take probably a mixture. A wise mixture of things you absolutely hate, things you don’t really like very much, things that are blah to you, and things you really love.

All of those mixed in a wise way to get you to stop loving sin. It’s going to take a wise mixture of all those things. Does God know how to do that? Yeah, he does. So, when you’re going through trials, remember that God knows what he’s doing. And overall, again, on page six, God’s overall commitment to you is good all the days of your life. And therefore, he says, Flavel says, keep your eye on each of the following, 1. The care of God for you. Look at it. He says, look at or 2) the wisdom of God in dispensing his mercies to you, each one perfectly suited to your condition. 3) the free grace of God and not giving us what we truly deserve. It is so fruitful to meditate again and again on what you really deserve. You say, but I’m a Christian now. Well meditate on what you deserved if you weren’t a Christian.

It’s so encouraging because then you compare all your trials to whatever it is you truly deserve, namely eternal condemnation in hell. And it makes you a happy man or woman. It just will make you a happy person because you realize anything you get from God is grace, is mercy. 4) also, the way that the Lord lowers himself to our low state and mercy, he lowers himself to us. 5) or consider the design and plan of God and all your comforts and times of ease to enable you to serve him better, not to meet your central cravings. Now, it could be that some of you are saying, actually as I look at my life right now, things are going well. I don’t really have any big trials, no big afflictions. I’m not saying you should live as one waiting for the other shoe to drop. That’s a kind of tough way to live your life, right?

Okay, God, when are you going to with me? I need it. Just do it. Now. I don’t want to keep thinking today’s the day I’m going to get Whapped. Is today the providential whapping? Because if it is, I need to know. I mean, that’s a tough way to live. And to me, I feel like I don’t want to live that way, and I’ll just let God be wise. Aren’t you glad you don’t know the future? I am glad. I don’t want to know. I mean, just think. Remember now in 11 days you will break your leg. So just keep and remember that 16 days after that it’s like, oh, I wouldn’t want to live that way. That would be very, very difficult way to live. Let’s just let the future be God’s and let him decide what comes.

But if things are going well for you, you still have a duty and responsibility in this matter of providence, don’t you? Live well. Use it well. Deuteronomy 28:48 is a very severe warning section for the Jewish people. They’re going into the promised land to eat food they hadn’t planted and live in homes they didn’t build. And he says, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in a time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst and nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies of the Lord that the Lord sends against you.” So, in other words, make good use of your times of ease and comfort. Use it well. Also consider the way and method in which God’s mercies are conveyed to you through the blood of Christ alone. Realize you would get nothing but wrath from God if Christ hadn’t died on the cross. That’s it. I mean, if Jesus hadn’t shed his blood, what would you get from God?

Yes, only wrath. And so just thank God again and again. Every good thing in your life comes through Jesus. It just does. All of the good things come because Jesus carried your burden at the cross. Isn’t that wonderful to realize that the blood of Christ has that much value? Also, I, the sovereignty of God again and again, a wise king who will never fail to rule his universe and keep your proper places, his subject. The whole essence is we wanted to be king, right? We wanted to be queen, we wanted to be in charge. Well, our God is in heaven and he does whatever pleases him. He’s a ruler. He’s a king. Keep that in mind. Also set the grace and goodness of God before you constantly, especially in all afflictive providences. God is a good God, and I) the wisdom of God in dispensing his afflictions to each one perfectly suited also to your condition.

Flavel says, oh, what quietness will this breed? I see my God will not lose my heart if a rod can prevent it. Isn’t that wonderful? God is not going to lose you if some discipline will help keep you strong. He’d rather discipline you than lose you. And he’s not going to lose you. “He would rather hear me groan here than howl hereafter. That’s typical Puritan writing. I just love that He’d rather hear me groan here than howl hereafter. Okay, praise God. “His love is judicious, not fond.” It’s not like a maudlin kind of thing. It’s like, no, it’s a tough love. He has a greater estimation of what you can really handle than you do, right? You’d go easier on yourself, don’t you think? He’s like, no, no, we’re going. You want a level 12? I’m giving you a level 64 today. There it is, and you’ll be fine.

I know you and I know what I can do. He consults my good rather than my ease, says Flavel. Consider the all-sufficiency of God during afflictions. He is still the source, the fountain for all your deepest needs and wants. Don’t let the affliction alienate you from God. That’s what Satan wants the most. Come back to him. Come to him again. Say, Lord, you’re my source. This is hard what I’m going through right now, but you are my source. And then the immutability of God. It’s not like the God who is so loving and wonderful to you six months ago is now a different God. He’s the same God. He never changes. There’s no shifting shadow of change at all with him. And then next he says, stir up your hearts to understand the different ways of the various providences of God. Ecclesiastes 7:14, when times are good, be happy.

I love that. I mean that just shows the practicality of the word of God. When things are going well, be happy, all right? I think that’s good, but when times are bad, consider- stop there. I think that’s good advice as well. I think frankly, “When things are going well, consider”- okay, we should be considering all the time. What it means is lead a reflective life, meditating. Consider. God has made the one as well as the other. He’s made both. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future. Why should such troubles make us forget our comfort in God when they’re only for a moment? Happiness in God is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” You won’t be talking about your afflictions in heaven. You just won’t. It’s not going to be a topic.

You’ll be boasting about Christ in heaven. That’s what you’ll be talking about in heaven. You’re not going to be saying, oh, the troubles I saw while I was on earth. It’s just an old story. There’s no point in talking about. It was all part of God’s plan to bring you here to this glorious place. And it was all worth it, all of it worth it. That’s right. Why should we be sad as long as our God is with us in all our troubles? That promise, “I will be with him in trouble” (Psalm 91:15), should support us in all our burdens. Why should are Christian believers be sad so long as we can be sure that no act of providence, however bad it appears, is a sign of God’s hatred. God’s heart is full of love for his children even in the face of providence. Even if the face of providence is full of frowns.

Why should we be depressed when we’re sure that even by means of these providences, God will do us good, Romans 8:28. And why shouldn’t we think of our joy in God when so near, when sorrows will vanish, and we will suffer no more? God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Why be discouraged? Time is short. Life is flying past, and everything that’s coming to us is coming in a wise and good and loving manner. So, there’s no reason to be discouraged. And I already covered this one, consider your sin. Two key questions. Ask yourself as you’re going through the trouble, what does your sin really deserve? Worse than this, folks. Much worse. Okay. Secondly, what is it going to take to get you stripped away from sin? And those questions will help you. And then fifth, if providence delays any blessing you have waited and prayed for, do not grow weary of praying to God. Realize that it pleases the Lord often to try and exercise the patience of his people.

Say, is this one of God’s hobbies? Does he enjoy this? He likes to stretch us. He likes to test us. Well, no, it’s not so much that. It’s that God wants you to have a heart that patiently waits on him and trusts in him. And he’s willing to put you through hard things to get you to that heart. And Flavel is going to say in a minute says, realize that that heart of patient trusting in God is worth far more than any earthly blessing you’re waiting for. Whatever earthly thing you’re waiting for, the heart that trusts God and waits on him is worth more than that. Whether it’s a job or even healing from affliction. Any of those things we tend to pray for that are earth-bound. I mean your heart of trust in God is worth more than any of those things. Well, we’re about out of time.

I want to look just at the very end. You can look at the other things at your own and read them. It talks about practical problems, how you can do it. How can a Christian bring or work his heart into resignation to the will of God when he sees that great trouble and sorrow are coming toward him? I like this on page 10. We’re on page 10. I didn’t type it quite right, but it should say, “How can you work your heart into a place of patient trusting in God?” First of all, Flavel, in typical Puritan form, and I think he’s so right, says the question does not suppose the heart or will of a Christian to be at his own command and disposal in the matter. What does this mean? You don’t actually have control over your own heart. You think you do, but you really don’t.

Can you make your heart be patient and trusting? You really can’t. If you could make your heart be something you wouldn’t need a Savior, do you realize that? I mean, you could do it on your own. If salvation came from the law, Christ died for nothing. If you could do it on your own, then why would he send Jesus? The fact is you can’t make your heart be patient and trusting. We cannot resign it and subject it to the will of God whenever we desire to do so.

The duty is indeed ours, but the power by which alone we perform it, now, that is God’s. We act as we are acted upon by the Spirit. So, what you have to do is make yourself of the Spirit’s work. You come in confession and say, God, my heart is not patient. It’s not quiet. It is tending toward murmuring and complaining. I need your help. Work in me. Make me what you want me to be. It’s that attitude of being a spiritual beggar, which we come to again and again. If you see something in scripture worth having, and you look inward and you don’t have it, ask him for it. Come to him and say, Lord, make me this way. Make me trusting.

And then final advice that he gives us here is to keep a journal of God’s providences to you.

“In consideration of the great and manifold advantages resulting from a humble and careful consideration of providence, I cannot but judge it the concern of Christians that have time and ability for such a work to keep written memorials or journals of providence by them. Some say that the art of medicine was acquired and perfected in this way. When anyone had met with some rare medicinal herb, herb, and accidentally discovered the virtues of it, he would post it up in some public square, some public place. And so, a physician attained his skill by a collection of those posted experiments and recipes.”

So, what is he saying? Keep a record of the things that God’s done in your life. Keep a journal. Write down the marvelous things that God’s done. And so, when you go through hard times, you can look back and say, the God who’s put me through this right now is the same God that’s done these 60 or 70 things for me in the last year. And he’s a faithful God. Let’s close in prayer. (prays)

It is a Biblical and historical fact that God sovereignly rules over even the smallest details of life for His glory.  That is what Flavel has proved in the first part of his book.  Now he reflects on the need we have to respond properly to it.

III.  The Duty of Meditation on Providence

Philippians 1:12-14  Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.  As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

A.  God Has Expressly Commanded Meditation on His Providence

Flavel:  “God has called His people to make the most serious reflections upon His works, whether of mercy or of judgment.”

1.  Examples Flavel cites:

a.  of judgment, “Go to Shiloh…”

Jeremiah 7:12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.”

Why should the people of Jerusalem make the trip to Shiloh?  Because they were lightly trusting that the mere fact that the Temple of the Lord was in Jerusalem would spare them from judgments:

Jeremiah 7:13-14   While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers.

Psalm 46:8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

Consideration is followed by application:

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

b. of mercy, “Consider the birds of the air…”

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

RSV Matthew 6:28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;

Greek word translated “consider” implies a careful studying of the lilies, deep pondering of their nature

Procedure is scientific, meditation is spiritual, and application is psychological and practical:  1) study carefully the lilies with your eyes, look at all their features, and how marvelously they are adorned; 2)  meditate by faith that it is the same God who cares for your physical life through His providential care; 3)  therefore, do not worry, be distressed or concerned, and don’t run after physical things as if they were the essence of your life c.  of history

Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.

God intends His people to consider the lessons of history, of His dealings in the past with previous generations:

1 Corinthians 10:1-12 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

6  Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

7  Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did– and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did– and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did– and were killed by the destroying angel.

11  These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

12  So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

Much of Scripture is a recounting of history to stimulate our faith and to keep us from sin… neglect of meditation on these things is very dangerous to our souls

B.    Neglect of This Meditation is Condemned as Sin in Scripture

Flavel:  “To be careless and unobservant is very displeasing to God”

Isaiah 26:11 O LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

Psalm 28:4-5  Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve.  Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.

Isaiah 5:12-13  They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.  Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.

C.    The Word “Behold” in Narratives

[NASB] Genesis 6:13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

[NASB] Exodus 7:17 ‘Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will

strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.

[NASB] 1 Samuel 3:11 The LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

This word is in effect God saying “Sit up and take notice!!”

In the Book of Revelation, at the opening of every seal is the word “Behold!”

[NASB]  Revelation 6:2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

Note:  the NIV regularly ignores “Behold” as though it’s not even there!  495 times the Hebrew word and 194 times the Greek word for “Behold” appears and is ignored by the NIV D.  If Not, God Will Not Be Praised Adequately

Another good example is found in Psalm 107… a systematic reciting of God’s providential deliverance for 1)  people wandering lost in a desert; 2)  prisoners sitting in chains in a prison because of sin; 3) people afflicted with grave illness because of their sin; 4)  sailors out in ships about to sink because of a terrible storm.  In each case, they cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard their cries and providentially delivered them.  Each category of people is urged to reflect on what God has done and to give thanks to Him:

Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men

The Psalm ends with a general call to us all:

Psalm 107:43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.

Reflecting on God’s providence in these deliverances is a mark of wisdom, and is clearly commanded by God! E.  If Not, We Miss the Benefits of God’s Works

Flavel:  “This (meditation on God’s providence) is the food our faith lives upon in days of distress…. From providences past saints argue to fresh and new ones to come.”

God’s past faithfulness to Israel is memorialized with stones to urge future faith and obedience for Israel:

Joshua 4:4-7  So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

God’s past faithfulness to David gave him ground for courage against Goliath:

[David] 1 Samuel 17:37 “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 

God’s faithfulness in delivering Paul from perils was ground for his present and future confidence:

[Paul] 2 Corinthians 1:10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us

Christ’s past miracle (feeding the 5000) was to give the apostles freedom from concern over food:

Matthew 16:9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

F.    If Not, We Dishonor God

God comes near to us every day in constant providential blessings

To fail to meditate on them and to fail to thank God is a great dishonor to Him

G.   Proper Observation of Providence is Essential to a Healthy Prayer Life

A healthy prayer life is one which energetically engages God at the level of His providence

It gives thanks for recent providential answers to prayer

It also trusts God for new ones

Therefore healthy prayer depends much on meditation on the providential acts of God

IV.  How to Meditate on the Providence of God

A.   Work at it!!  Think as deeply as you can and for as long as you can about the providences of God

Flavel:  “O fill your hearts with the thoughts of Him and His ways.  If a single act of Providence is so ravishing and transporting, what would many such be, if they were presented together to the view of the soul.”

1.   Search backwards and trace out God’s providence in your lives Luke 1:49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me– holy is his name.

2.   Let your thoughts be full and heavy with significance

Flavel:  “Do not let your thoughts swim like feathers upon the surface of the waters, but sink like lead to the bottom.”

3.   Consider details such as:  the timing of God’s special care, the special tenderness and kindness seemingly tailored to our particular needs, the human instruments God used to bless us

B.    Think how the Word of God is fulfilled in providence

1.   All providences are in some sense supported by Scripture’s promises

Joshua 23:14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

2.   Try to connect God’s providence to you to specific texts of Scripture

3.   This is especially true when God providentially disciplines us… it is the word that tells us what to change, what to do

Psalm 94:12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law

4.   WARNING: Without Scripture’s guidance, it is very easy to misinterpret acts of providence

5.   The Word also sustains you during adverse providences, exhorting you to patience

C.  Be sure that you see God as the one who causes and orders all the events of providence

Proverbs 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

1.   Do not forget God’s overall commitment to do you good all the days of your life

2.   God’s overall plans for you are good, therefore each part of the plan is good as well

3.   Keep each of the following in mind

Eye the care of God for you

Eye the wisdom of God in dispensing His mercies to you, each one perfectly suited to your condition

Eye the free grace of God in not giving us what we truly deserve

Eye the way the Lord condescends to our low state in mercy

Eye the design and plan of God in all your comforts and times of ease:  to enable you to serve Him better, not to meet your sensual cravings

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Eye the way and method in which God’s mercies are conveyed to you… through the blood of Christ ALONE

Eye the sovereignty of God again and again… a wise King who will never fail to rule His universe… keep your proper place as His subject Psalm 115:3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

Set the grace and goodness of God before you constantly, especially in “all afflictive providences”

Eye the wisdom of God in dispensing His afflictions to you, each one perfectly suited to your condition

Flavel:  “O what quietness will this breed!  I see my God will not lose my heart if a rod can prevent it.  He would rather hear me groan here than howl hereafter.  His love is judicious, not fond.  He consults my good rather than my ease.”

Eye the all-sufficiency of God during afflictions… He is still the source, the fountain for all your deepest needs and wants

Eye the immutability of God… the “Father who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

D.  Stir up your hearts to understand the different ways of the various providences of God  (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.

1.  Why should such troubles make us forget our comfort in God, when they are only for a moment and our happiness in God is eternal?

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

2.   Why should we be sad, so long as our God is with us in all our troubles?  That one promise, “I will be with him in trouble” (Psalm 91:15), should support us under all our burdens.

3.   Why should we who are Christian believers be sad, so long as we can be sure that no act of providence, however bad it appears, is a sign of God’s hatred?  God’s heart is full of love for his children even if the face of providence is full of frowns.

4.   Why should we be depressed when we’re sure that, even by means of these providences, God will do us good?  (Romans 8:28).

5.   Why shouldn’t we think of our joy in God, when the time is so near when sorrows will vanish, and we’ll suffer no more?  “God shall wipe away all tears” (Revelation 7:17).

6.   Consider also your sin during times of afflictions:  two key questions

First:  what your sin truly deserves from God

Second:  what it will take for God to mortify and purge your sin from you

E.   If providence delays any blessing you have waited and prayed for, do not grow weary of praying to

God

1.   It pleases the Lord often to try and exercise the patience of His people Psalm 6:3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?

2.   Delays are NOT denials

3.   Also realize that delays may mean the trials have not yet accomplished the work they were sent to do

4.   Delays may also mean that God is simply more perfectly preparing the ultimate blessing for you, and it is not fully ready yet

5.   The development of a heart that humbly, quietly rests on God and waits for Him is of infinitely higher value than any earthly blessing we’re waiting for!!

6.   Keep reminding yourself that you do not deserve the blessing you’re waiting for

7.   Realize that teeming millions of people who were as good as you by nature (that is, not good at all!!) are completely without hope and without God in the world, but that you have eternal salvation!

F.    Do not question or make judgments about ways of providence

Flavel:  “Do not pry too curiously into the secrets of Providence, nor allow your shallow reason arrogantly to judge and censure its designs.”

1.   There are “hard texts” of Providence as much as there are “hard texts” of Scripture

Psalm 73:16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me

2.   When our own reason fills us with a mistrust of Providence, great temptations to sin surely follow

Flavel:  “Beware therefore you do not lean too much to your reasonings and understandings.  Nothing is more plausible, nothing more dangerous.”

V.  The pleasure and profit obtained from looking at what God does in providence

A.   By this means you may enjoy close fellowship with God from day to day.

B.    A great part of the pleasure of the Christian life comes from looking at what God does in providence.  “The works of the Lord are great, sought out by all those who have pleasure in them” (Psalm 111:2).

C.    Studying what God does in providence will correct the natural unbelief in your hearts.

D.   Keeping a record of what providence has done, will be a real support to faith in future difficult times.

E.    Remembering past providences will be a continual source of praise and thanksgiving, which is the employment of the angels in heaven, and the most enjoyable part of our lives on earth.

F.    The careful observation of providence will make Jesus Christ more and more precious to your souls.

G.   The careful consideration of providence has a wonderful power to make the heart full of thankfulness.

H.   The careful observation of providence will bring an inward peace to your minds.

I.      The careful consideration of the ways of God in His providences towards us helps to increase holiness in our lives.  “The Lord is righteous in all His ways and hold in all His works” (Psalm 145:17).

J.     Finally, the consideration of providence will be of the greatest use to us when we come to die.

VI.  The consequences of the previous chapters

A.  It is your duty to believe that God is in all that happens to you.  If He gives comforts, it is a great evil not to see His hand in them. If He sends troubles, you should know that they do not arise out of the ground, but from the hand of God.

B.  Since God does all things for you, how great is His care for His people!  His tender care is so great that He does not take His eye off you (Job 36:7).  In case anyone should hurt you, He himself will guard and keep you day and night (Isaiah 27:3).  You are too dear to Him to be trusted to any hand but His own.  “All His saints are in your hand” (Deuteronomy 33:3).

C.  Since God does all things for you, are you not obliged to live for God?  Our desire should be, as someone has said: “O that I could be to God as useful as my hands are to me.”  The purpose of all that God has done for you is to make you a blessing to other people.  “What shall I give to the Lord for all His benefits to me?”  said the psalmist (Psalm 116:12).  God is always doing you good, so you should be active for Him.  He is acting every moment for you!

D.  Since God does all these things for His people, do not distrust Him when new difficulties arise.

You have often failed to trust Him in the past.  Don’t fall into distrust again.  Learn this great truth.  If you trust in God and wait quietly on Him to save you out of trouble, He cannot and will not fail you!

E.  Since God does all things for you, pray to Him about everything.  You will certainly never have what you desire or work for, unless God works for you.  Even though He may have purposed to do what you desire, He still expects you to ask Him for it.  Then when you have prayed whatever you ask is yours already.

F.   Since God does all things for you, then it should be your chief concern to please Him in all things.  No troubles can harm a Christian whose one desire is to pleas God.  As a spark of fire is easily put out in the sea, so the favor of God will cause troubles to have no ill effects.  Since it is God who does all things and who rejoices over us to do us only good, we are safe even in the greatest of troubles and dangers.  Let us be guided by the divine wisdom of the Bible.  Fear nothing but sin.

Make it your chief concern to please God and to trust Him in all you do.  These are sure rules for you safety and blessing in all the uncertainties of this life.

VI.  Practical problems

A.   How can a Christian discover the will of God in difficult and puzzling circumstances?

B.    How can a Christian be helped to wait on God while providence delays the answer to his prayers?

C.    How can a Christian know when a providence is working for his highest good, and comes from the love the God?

D.   How can we keep steady and calm in spirit when providence brings so many changes into our lives?

E.    Finally, how can a Christian bring work his heart into resignation to the will of God when he sees that great trouble and sorrow are coming towards him?

Flavel:  “The question does not suppose the heart or will of a Christian to be at his own command and disposal in the matter.  We cannot resign it, and subject it to the will of God whenever we desire so to do.  The duty indeed is ours, but the power by which alone we perform it is God’s; we act as we are acted upon by the Spirit.”

Yet it is still our duty to labor on our hearts to be totally and cheerfully submitted to God’s will… as David was

2 Samuel 15:25-26  Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, He will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again.  But if He says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.”

So, labor on your hearts (i.e. through prayer, fasting, meditation, worship and simply preaching to yourself) to develop a deep and fixed sense of the infinite wisdom of God and your own deep folly and ignorance.  This will make resignation easy for you.

Flavel:  “It is nothing but our pride and arrogance over-valuing our own understandings that makes resignation so hard.”

Especially set Scriptural examples of glad submission before you (e.g. Paul’s joy in prison)… better than all of these is the example of Christ Himself, gladly submitting to His Father.

Flavel:  “Study the singular benefits and advantages of a will resigned up and melted into the will of God.  Such a spirit has a continual Sabbath within itself.”

Final Advice:  Keep a Journal of God’s Providence

Flavel:  In consideration of the great and manifold advantages resulting from a humble and careful

consideration of Providence, I cannot but judge it the concern of Christians that have time and ability for such a work, to keep written memorials or journals of Providence by them…. Some say the art of medicine was acquired and perfected thus.  When anyone had met with some rare medicinal herb, and accidentally discovered the virtues of it, he would post it up in some public place; and so a physician attained his skill by a collection of those posted experiments and recipes.