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Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I discuss the concept of Divine Providence which holds that God is actively working in our lives and situations, even though we may not be fully aware of it.
Now there are times when God’s divine providence is fully on display such as the day Christ intercepted Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians. God not only stopped the horrific persecution of the church but also transformed Paul into a great apostolic leader of the early church.
However, at other times God’s divine providence is not so obvious.
The Apostle Paul explains Divine providence this way:
“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
In this passage, Paul writes that God works ‘all things’ together for good. ‘All things’ means exactly that ‘all things’. It refers to malicious acts, sin, betrayals, mistakes, and even satanic forces manipulating the situation for evil intent.
The Greek word, sunergeō, translated ‘work together’ is derived from another Greek word that means fellow worker. It brings with it the idea of two people working together to accomplish a goal.
Notice how the verse says that God takes all these circumstances, the negative, the betrayals, and our stupidity, and works them together for good.
This is not a happenstance. This is God’s divine providence at work.
However, when you are sitting in the middle of the situation, you may not see God’s hand at work. All you see is the pain, the suffering and everything going wrong.
But God has not abandoned us.
The Patriarch Joseph was a classic example of how God’s providence can sometimes be difficult to recognize because there is part of Joseph’s story that we often miss. And that is how God took Joseph to a dark place to connect him with his destiny.
The youngest and favorite son of Jacob, Joseph was an arrogant loudmouth and when he had a dream that his older brothers would be bowing down before him, he couldn’t wait to tell them.
It was this type of behavior, that eventually got Joseph into trouble. The fed-up brothers sold Joseph into slavery where he was purchased by Potiphar, the head of the security for the Pharaoh.
At this point, he was one of thousands of nameless slaves living in Egypt. He had no rights and no freedoms. Though he didn’t deserve this treatment, Joseph brought a lot of it on himself.
Having gone from being the favored son of his father to a slave in Egypt, things couldn’t get much worse than that.
But in fact, they did.
When Joseph rejected a sexual advance by Potiphar’s wife, she falsely accused him of trying to rape her and Joseph ended up in an Egyptian prison.
Though being imprisoned in this Egyptian jail was the lowest point in Joseph’s life, it was the critical step in connecting Joseph with his destiny.
It was in this prison that he accurately interpreted a dream for the cupbearer, who had fallen out of favor with the Pharaoh. When the cupbearer was restored to the royal household, it paved the way for Joseph to end up as second in charge in Egypt after successfully interpreting the pharaoh’s disturbing dreams.
When drought hit Canaan, Joseph’s brothers were forced to go to Egypt looking for food, and were shockingly reunited with Joseph who acknowledged God’s sovereign hand in his circumstance and forgave them stating:
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)
The Hebrew word, châshab, translated as ‘intended’ in this verse literally means ‘to design, invent, and to plan.’ We are not talking about a haphazard series of events, but rather a coordinated plan, leading to the desired outcome.
God took Joseph’s arrogance and stupidity, threw in the brother’s evil intent, added in the false accusations of Potiphar’s wife, mixed in a few years of jail, stirred it together well, and presto we have a cake called, Divine Providence.
I have an example of God’s divine providence in my own life, where God took a horrible situation and turned it into good. When the worst-case scenario, actually became the best-case scenario, and I am thankful it happened the way it did. But I wasn’t so happy going through it.
Where I live the government provides and pays for most of our medical care. But this also means that you are subject to its limitations. For example, if you need a hip or knee replacement, the wait list is currently about three to four years.
In late February, my wife and I were pretty excited when I got a call asking if I was available last minute for a knee replacement operation. I suspect there had been a cancellation.
It was providential, considering I had only been on the list for a knee replacement for just a year and four months.
I immediately said yes, and the next week was a whirlwind of tests and picking up the needed equipment for what would become a painful and extended recovery.
My knee had started acting up several years back. I went for arthroscopic day surgery, which did help. But it didn’t last and when the pain returned a few years later, the doctor told me that knee replacement was the next option.
Over the years, I had prayed for God to heal my knee, but it never happened. I can blame my lack of faith.
But though I failed the faith test, God didn’t abandon me.
God didn’t say, “Well, Dean that’s just too bad, but your lack of faith is the reason you are in this predicament, and really there is nothing more that I can do for you here.”
I remember a story from the Gospels of the young father who asked Jesus’ disciples to deliver the man’s son from an evil spirit.
When they failed, in desperation the young father asked if Christ would be able to deliver the boy.
But look what the man actually said:
“But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
23 But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24 NASV)
The father not only questioned Christ’s ability to deliver his son but in the process also revealed his heart was full of unbelief.
But did Jesus just say to the man, so sad too bad, and abandon this man to his doubt and unbelief?
No. The Lord delivered the boy anyway.
When we fail, make mistakes, and are even full of unbelief, God does not abandon us. The Lord will work within the limitations of our faith and understanding.
And I witnessed God’s providence a few minutes after I had my knee surgery. While in recovery, I had a heart attack.
I remember in the week leading up to my surgery telling my wife, that I wasn’t feeling very good. I also felt a heaviness in my chest, but sloughed it off as heartburn and nerves over the upcoming surgery.
It ended up being a small to moderate attack, and knee surgery was put on the back burner and all the attention was focused on what was happening to my heart.
Knee replacement is one of the most painful surgeries you will ever go through and instead of bed rest, I was thrown into a battery of tests.
The pain was unbearable as I was wheeled from ward to ward. I prayed several times for the strength just to endure the pain. I was in such pain, I remember at times just praying one word, ‘mercy.’
But through this battery of tests, they discovered some serious blockages in my heart and put in several emergency stents.
I am very thankful for the great care I received from the nurses and doctors.
But here is the thing, I had been sitting on this heart attack time bomb for months, and the knee surgery exposed this much more serious problem. And slowly I began to recognize God’s providence in it all. If you are going to have a heart attack, the best place to have it is in the hospital.
As I was on the recovery ward with others who had just had their knees replaced, one had waited four years for his surgery. No one I talked to was less than three years.
I believe God had somehow snuck me in months earlier. Though I was officially in the hospital for knee surgery, God had booked me in because of my heart issues.
If my knee surgery had not taken place, I would be sitting here doing a different podcast, on a different subject of course.
I also would have no idea that my heart was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to be set off.
A heart attack would still be pending and the circumstances and severity could be completely different. I mean you could have a heart attack out in your backyard or while you are driving, or you could have one at the hospital.
So I see God’s providence in all this. God took a horribly painful experience, and He worked it all together for good.
We need to be aware of God’s handiwork in all of life’s circumstances. It is easy to see God’s hand when things are going good, but the Lord is also at work when things are going bad. Even if you are responsible for your pain and suffering, God will not abandon you.
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