Providence of God
The providence of God may be defined as His guardianship and care for His creatures and creation. God’s activity throughout history in providing for the needs of human beings, especially those who believe in him. There is probably no point at which the Christian doctrine of God comes more into conflict with contemporary worldviews than in the matter of God’s providence. Providence means that God has not abandoned the world that he created, but rather works within that creation to manage all things according to the “immutable counsel of His own will” (Westminster Confession of Faith, V, i). By contrast, the world at large, even if it will on occasion acknowledge God to have been the world’s Creator, is at least certain that he does not now intervene in human affairs. Many think that miracles do not happen, that prayer isn’t answered and that most things “fall out” according to the functioning of impersonal and unchangeable laws.
Significance of Providence All through the centuries of human existence there have been those who took great comfort in God’s providential care. God has not left this planet alone in the vast universe or forgotten for a moment the human situation. God visits, touches, communicates, controls, and intervenes, coming before and between people and their needs. Providence is ground for thankfulness.
Counterfeit Concepts of Providence The fact that the nonbelieving world has so many erroneous ideas about providence proves that this is an immensely realistic issue. At the heart of every nonbiblical proposal about providence is the denial of the personhood of God. In its place stands some cold principle or force dominating man and clashing with his life. It may be all-pervasive or local. It may be rational or irrational, consistent or arbitrary. False providences include:
Fate Countless numbers of people have believed themselves to be trapped by a sometimes fickle and always foreboding fate. “As fate would have it,” they say.
Luck Life is indeed fortuitous at times. Optimists speak of “fortune,” or less solemnly of “luck.” But then, since this is all so impersonal, fortune-tellers arose, and someone dreamed up “lady luck.”
Serendipity This is the term used by the one who takes credit for unintentional discoveries of good things along the way in life. But he refuses to acknowledge that God was there before him and so he does not give thanks.
History Some Marxist propagandists have championed their cause by saying, “History is on our side.” They were appealing to a supposed inevitability of future events that would lead to a Communistic world. “History” in such a statement appears to have taken on a divine dimension. Likewise, when American leaders have affirmed a “manifest destiny” for the United States to be the superior power in the Western hemisphere or in the world at large, the same kind of reasoning is employed.
Progress The development of science and technology, education and social evolution, and territorial conquests have made some people believers in progress as something more than what is seen. Until the two world wars, there was the illusion of a relentless momentum pushing upward and onward forever. In some respects, progress is but providence by another name, but not to the degree that people assume for themselves the glory that belongs to God.
Nature Men like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau of 19th-century New England attributed to nature the gifts of providence. But nature is impersonal and abstract.
Natural Selection and the Survival of the Fittest Charles Darwin’s classic on biological evolution, The Origin of the Species, appeared in 1859. It popularized two relatively new theories. For millions of people, the mysterious decisions behind “natural selection” intrigued the thoughtful more than the notion of God’s providence. And the idea that “the fit survive” necessarily makes providence altogether unnecessary.