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In these times in which it seems as though bad news abounds on every side, we are reminded of the prophet Amos’ words generations ago; “it is an evil time” (Amos 5:13). However, as believers in Jesus Christ, we must not lose hope. Nothing is occurring for which God is not already aware. Jesus’ words remind us, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In moments such as these, it is helpful to rest again in God’s Providence. Nearly four centuries ago, the quaint Puritan Thomas Watson explained Providence this way.
There is no such thing as blind fate, but there is a Providence that guides and governs the world. “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing therof is of the Lord (Proverbs 16:33). Providence is God’s ordering all issues and events of things, after the counsel of His will, to His own glory. The wheels of the clock seem to move contrary one to the other, but they help forward the motion of the clock, and make the alarum strike; so the providences of God seem to be cross wheels; but for all that they shall carry on the good of the elect.
May the following story, quotes, and poem/hymn encourage us as we remember the Providence of God.
Sometimes when our plans don’t work out as hoped, it’s because God is detouring us, leading us elsewhere, in his overruling providence. Thomas Coke, a sophisticated Oxford-educated Welshman, left his ministry in the Anglican Church in 1777 to become John Wesley’s chief assistant in the new and quickly-growing Methodist movement. On September 24, 1785, he packed his books and bags and sailed out of England, down the Channel, and into the Atlantic, leaving for Nova Scotia where he wanted to establish a group of missionaries who accompanied him. But the voyage was ill-fated and grew more perilous by the day, the ship being caught in the mountainous waves and mast-splitting winds. The ship’s captain determined that Coke and his missionaries, like biblical Jonah, were bringing misfortune on his ship, and he considered throwing them overboard. He did, in fact, gather up some of Coke’s papers and toss them into the raging ocean. The voyage took three months rather than the expected one, and instead of landing in Nova Scotia, the damaged ship ended up in the Caribbean, limping into St. John’s harbor on the island of Antigua on Christmas Day.
Coke knew that at least one Methodist lived somewhere on Antigua, a missionary named John Baxter. Hoping to find him, Coke and his three missionaries asked to be rowed ashore from their shattered ship in the predawn morning. They started down the street in St. John’s and stopped the first person they found, a fellow swinging a lantern in his hand, to inquire of Baxter.
It was John Baxter himself. He was on his way to special Christmas morning services he had planned for the island, and the sudden appearance of Coke and his missionaries out of the darkness—out of nowhere—seemed too good to be true. It took three services that day to accommodate the crowds. And after it was over, Coke and his associates abandoned any idea of going to Nova Scotia. They planted the missionary team instead on Antigua and on neighboring islands, and by the time of Coke’s death in 1814 there were over seventeen thousand believers in the Methodist churches there!
Despots may plan and armies may march, and the congresses of the nations may seem to think they are adjusting all the affairs of the world, but the mighty men of the earth are only the dust of the chariot wheels of God’s providence.—T. Dewitt Talmage
The Unseen Hand may be obscured at times by the fogs of circumstance, but just because we can’t see the sun on a cloudy day doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.—Vance Havner
He knows, and foreknows, all things, and His foreknowledge is foreordination; He, therefore, will have the last word, both in world history and in the destiny of every man.—J.I. Packer
God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will.
You fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
—William Cowper, God Moves in a Mysterious Way
In these uncertain times, remember, “My times are in your [God’s] hand” (Psalm 31:15). May we take great hope in the Providence of God.
Jason