By
Shelby G. Floyd
How many of us can remember back when we were little children, school was out, we got up in the morning and we would play with our friends from daylight and there were no worries, no anxiety. When I was a child, I never worried about whether we were going to have food on the table; I just trusted my mom and dad and I knew that they would take care of me. I never worry about whether I was going to have a good coat when wintertime would come on; they just always took care of me, and I trusted them. I never worried about the mortgage payment or whether we would have a place to live, because I just took that for granted; I trusted my parents and they always came through. Many of us have that kind of trust, that kind of a faith in an all-powerful, all loving heavenly Father, that he will do the same for us today! I really feel like we need to get the lesson of God’s overruling Providence into our hearts in a firm and fixed way.
The Story of Joseph
One of the most beautiful stories to me is found in Genesis beginning with chapter 37 and continuing through that book. It is the story about the patriarch Jacob, and he had all of the sons. The youngest son was named Joseph. He really loved Joseph in a special way because he was born by his wife, Rachel, who he loved also in a special way. He loved him so much because he was born when Jacob was up in the years. Jacob was an old man. So, Joseph had a special place in his heart. But this created jealousy and envy on the part of Joseph’s brothers, and they hated him. They would not even speak peaceably to him and on a certain occasion when the opportunity was right, they even wanted to kill their brother, Joseph. But the way it turned out, instead of killing him, they sold him as a slave into bondage down into Egypt. Joseph was separated from his family, separated from his father, separated from his brothers. He was off in a distant land, but Joseph was a man who trusted the Almighty. He never lost faith. Whatever happened to him, he realized that God had a plan for his life. Sometimes he would be down in the very depths of despair, but he never gave up. He never lost faith; he never changed his character. He was true to his God whether he was at home in Canaan land or whether he was in the land of Egypt. God loved Joseph. God looked down from heaven, and God took care of him. God exalted him and ultimately, he became prime minister of the land of Egypt. God had a plan not only for Joseph, but God had a plan for Joseph’s father, Joseph’s brothers and God had a plan for the whole human race and Joseph was a part of that plan, even when terrible things happened to him down in Egypt. Later on when there was a great famine in Canaan and Jacob had to send his sons down to Egypt to buy corn and food so they could survive, after the second trip, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and it was fulfilled what he had earlier prophesied that they would bow down to him like the stars of heaven would bow down to the sun and they would bow down to him like the sheep that bow down to the shepherd that was in the meadow; it was all fulfilled. When they realized that it was their brother, Joseph, they became very afraid and especially after their father died, they were afraid that Joseph would take vengeance upon them for the terrible things that they had done in the way they had treated him. But in Genesis 50 Joseph makes a point that I want to emphasize this morning. He said, “do not fear what I will do to you, because you meant it unto me for evil, but God meant it for good to save many people alive this day.” Now there is the point that we wish to make. If we really love God and we trust him and we are serving him, even things that seem to be evil in our life can turn out to be for good. God can overrule any evil that happens in our life and bring good out of it. Was it evil that Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egypt? Yes. Was it evil that he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown in prison? Yes. Did God overrule that and bring about good in the life of Joseph? Yes. God wanted to save Jacob and his children and his posterity so Christ could come into the world, and he did that through Joseph and through all these things happening to him. Joseph was at the right place at the right time to be selected as the Prime Minister of Egypt, to overrule the dispensaries of food when the famine came and save them alive and prosper them so they would become the great nation of Israel and later bring God’s scheme of redemption and reveal it to us by the Old Testament prophets and, ultimately, manage to bring Christ into the world. That is the Providence of God.
The Providence of God
What is the Providence of God? I really believe in the Providence of God. God controls and guides the events of our world in such a way as to bless his children. This is what we mean when we talk about the Providence of God.
Robert Richerson was the son-in-law of Alexander Campbell, and he was a teacher at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. And in the Millennial Harbinger he made this statement about Providence: “It is indeed the very idea and definition of Providence that it is the divine agency exerted in sustaining and governing the universe. It differs from miracle in this – that its designs are brought to pass by means of the established laws and through the ordinary channels, while a miracle is the accomplishment of a purpose by other means.” He goes on to say, “By the Providence of God, then we need his care and his superintendence in preserving and governing the world. By the preservation of the world is implied in the upholding, the being, the powers and the attributes of all created things and by government is signified a controlling overruling power over everything which is thus upheld.” So, I think you can see from that definition that God and the word teaches that God is governing and superintending, and he is bringing his purposes about through whatever things are going on in the natural world. Continue reading “The Providence of God”
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