By Leon Bent-
Divine providence is God’s capacity to bring to fruition, His purposes and promises with 100 percent certainty—for humanity, indeed, for the cosmos as a whole. Divine Providence is God’s care for His people. In theology, divine providence, is God’s intervention in the Universe. The term Divine Providence is also used as a title of God.
Divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. The doctrine of divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe as a whole (Psalm 103:19), the physical world (Matthew 5:45), the affairs of nations (Psalm 66:7), human destiny (Galatians 1:15), human successes and failures (Luke 1:52), and the protection of His people (Psalm 4:8). This doctrine stands in direct opposition to the idea that the universe is governed by chance or fate.
If God is not in control of all things, then He is not sovereign, and if He is not sovereign, then He is not God. So, the price of maintaining contingencies outside of God’s control results in a belief that God is not really God. And if our free will can trump divine providence, then who ultimately is God? We are. That conclusion is unacceptable to anyone with a biblical worldview. Divine providence does not destroy our freedom. Rather, divine providence takes our freedom into account and, in the infinite wisdom of God, sets a course to fulfil God’s will.
“We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His decree.” We find these comforting words in Romans 8:28. God has plans for us, plans for our good (Jeremiah 29:11). God is creator and master of the world. God is also the Lord of history. Through the events of history, God guides His people to perfection. We call this “Divine Providence.”
At times we face many problems. Some Christians have faced persecution because of their faith. There is the problem of evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem that God does not answer our prayers in the way that we had hoped. All of these things can try our faith. We may find ourselves tempted to doubt or to give up on our prayers.
At such moments we need to trust that God is in control of the whole world and its history. Things may not happen in the way that we expect. However God, in His almighty providence, can bring good even from the consequences of evil.
Paul knew this first from the history of his Jewish people. We read this in the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt. However he rose to a position of power in Egypt. Later, Joseph was able to help his brothers during a time a famine.
Reflecting on what had happened Joseph explained God’s workings to his brothers. “It was not you,” said Joseph to his brothers, “who sent me here, but God.” “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” We read the story of Joseph beginning in Genesis 37. The passage above is from Genesis 45:4-8.
The life of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of God’s providence. The greatest moral evil every committed was the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men. However, where sin has abounded, God’s grace has abounded all the more (Romans 5:20). From this greatest of evils God brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Jesus Christ and our redemption.
Of course evil is still evil. God would much prefer to bring good out of our good. However, God’s power and grace can even bring good out of evil. This knowledge was a comfort to Paul. This knowledge can be a comfort to us in the midst of whatever difficulties or evils we may face in life.
But difficult as it sometimes is to live consistently, the Christian belief is that God disposes all things according to His infinite love. The ancient Jew would have said that God wills everything that happens. Thus we find in Exodus and elsewhere that God is described as responsible even for resistance to His will, as when God “hardens” the heart of Pharaoh. Though Jews certainly understood something of the different ways God has of exercising His will, the Hebrew idiom tended not to distinguish, as Christian theology does, between God’s “active” and His “permissive” will.
Speaking of God’s will in a more nuanced way, Christians, nonetheless, understand that nothing happens apart from God’s will. Sadly, the recognition of this profound truth leads some to reject the idea of God because He encompasses within His Providence so many apparently bad and even cruel things. But the Christian remembers the lesson of Job. He knows that our perspective is inescapably limited, and so we simply cannot fully understand how God’s Providence works. The Christian cannot always see how it is an expression of God’s love. But he knows that it must be so. He places his hope in Jesus Christ, who advised us to consider the lilies of the field (Mt 6:28), and who said:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Lk 12:6-7)
The Christian faith in Providence was perfectly captured by St. Paul when he said, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rm. 8:28).
When Christians embody this ‘Providential’ understanding of reality, they convey the deepest and most attractive attitude toward meaning in life. This is so because, in Christ, meaning is inseparably linked with hope. And so we begin to see the profound link between meaning and evangelization.
To put it as clearly as possible, trust in God’s Providence is an indispensable precondition for preaching the Gospel. It sets Christians apart, ensuring their fundamental peace and joy. This recognition of Providence gives the Christian that truly remarkable wholeness—profoundly human, yet beyond the human mode—which is the deepest desire of the human heart.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.