What They Said

“We should clearly apprehend and firmly hold the obvious truth that what we distinguish as the natural and the supernatural providence of God—for example, his ordinary providence, his gracious operations and his miraculous interventions—are nevertheless inseparable parts of one harmonious system in execution of one plan and the various manifestations of the energy of one God.”

A. A. Hodge

“Without due observation of the work of providence no praise can be rendered to God for any of them.  Praise and thanksgiving for mercies depend upon this act of observation of them, and cannot be performed without it.” 

John Flavel

(The Mystery of Providence, PG 114)

“The wisdom of providence in our provisions. And this is seen in proportioning the quantity, not satisfying our extravagant wishes, but answering our real needs; consulting our wants, not our wantonness. "But my God shall supply all your need’ (Phil. 4. 19), and this has exactly suited the wishes of the best and wisest men, who desired no more at His hand.” 

John Flavel

(The Mystery of Providence, PG 87)

“If any who fear God should complain, that although they have a calling, yet it is a hard laborious one, which takes up too much of their time which they would gladly employ in other and better work, I answer, that it is likely the wisdom of Providence foresaw this to be the most suitable and proper employment for you; and if you had more ease and rest, you might have more temptations than you now have.  The strength and time which are now taken up in your daily labours, in which you serve God, might otherwise have been spent on such lusts in which you might have served the devil.” 

John Flavel

(The Mystery of Providence, PG 77-78)

"And as Providence orders very strange causes to awaken and rouse our souls at first, so it works no less wonderfully in carrying on the work to perfection."

John Flavel

(The Mystery of Providence, PG 70)

I SING the almighty power of God, 

That made the mountains rise, 

That spread the flowing seas abroad, 

And built the lofty skies. 

I sing the wisdom that ordained 

The sun to rule the day; 

The moon shines full at His command 

And all the stars obey. 

I sing the goodness of the Lord 

That filled the earth with food; 

He formed the creatures with His word. 

And then pronounced them good.

There's not a plant or flower below

But makes His glories known.; 

And clouds arise, and tempests blow, 

By order from His throne.

Creatures, as numerous as they be,

Are subject to His care; 

There's not a place where we can flee 

But God is present there.

His hand is my perpetual guard,

Isaac Watts

(Divine Songs for Children - Song 2)

“Providence may be defined as that continued exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator preserves all His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end.”

Louis Berkhof 

"The Bible teaches that even the minutest details of life are of divine ordering."

Louis Berkhof

"Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God's ordering and permission.

The providential government of God over everything in this world is a truth of which the Greek and Roman philosophers had no conception. It is a truth which is specially revealed to us in the Word of God.  Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect, so does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order, and design in all the events of our daily life.  There is no such thing as "chance," "luck," or " accident" in the Christian's journey through this world.  All is arranged and appointed by God.  And all things are "working together " for the believer's good. (Rom. viii. 28.)"

J.C. Ryle

"But again, as all persons are subject unto his authority, so all THINGS are equally subject to his almighty power. There may be circumstances in your earthly lot which at this moment are peculiarly trying. You look round and wonder how this or that circumstance will terminate. At present it looks very dark; clouds and mists hang over it, and you fear lest these clouds may break, not in showers upon your head, as Cowper speaks in his hymn, but burst forth in the lightning flash and the thunder stroke. But all things, and if all things then this circumstance also that fills your mind with apprehension, are put in subjection under Christ's feet. The thing cannot take place except by his sovereign will, nor can it move any further except by his supreme disposal. Then make yourself quiet; he will not allow you to be harmed. It shall only execute his sovereign purposes, and it shall be among those all things which, according to his promise, shall work together for your good."

J.C. Philpot

"Why may we not believe that the God who brings his purposes to fruition in his providential government of the world, without violence to second causes or to the intelligent free agency of his creatures, so superintends the mental processes of his chosen instruments for making known his will, as to secure that they shall speak his words in speaking their own?"

B.B. Warfield

"In the infinite wisdom of the Lord of all the earth, each event falls with exact precision into its proper place in the unfolding of His divine plan.  Nothing, however small, however strange, occurs without His ordering, or without its particular fitness for its place in the working out of His purpose; and the end of all shall be the manifestation of His glory, and the accumulation of His praise."

B.B. Warfield

If therefore in doubtful cases you would discover God's will, govern yourselves in your search after it by the following rules:

1. Get the true fear of God upon your hearts. Be really afraid of offending him. God will not hide his mind from such a soul. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant" (Psalm 25:14).

2. Study the Word more, and the concerns and interests of the world less. The Word is light to your feet (Psalm 119:105), that is, it has a discovering and directing usefulness as to all duties to be done and dangers to be avoided.  It is the great oracle at which you are to enquire.  Treasure up its rules in your hearts, and you will walk safely.  "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee" (Ps 119:11).

3. Reduce what you know into practice, and you shall know what is your duty to practice. "If any man do his will he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17). "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psalm 111:10).

4. Pray for illumination and direction in the way that you should go. Beg the Lord to guide you in straits and that he would not permit you to fall into sin.  This was the holy practice of Ezra:  "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our little ones, and for all our substance" (Ezra 8:21)

5. And this being done, follow Providence so far as it agrees with the Word and no further. There is no use to be made of Providence against the Word, but in subservience to it.

John Flavel

(From: The Mystery of Providence)

“Take a straight stick, and put it into the water; then it will seem crooked.  Why?  Because we look upon it through two mediums, air and water: there lies the deception visus; thence it is that we cannot discern aright.  Thus the proceedings of God, in His justice, which in themselves are straight, without the least obliquity, seem unto us crooked:  that wicked men should prosper, and good men be afflicted; that the Israelites should make the bricks, and the Egyptians dwell in the houses; that servants should ride on horseback, and princes go on foot:  these are things that make the best Christians stagger in their judgments.  

And why?  Because they look upon God's proceedings through a double medium of flesh and spirit, so that all things seem to go cross, though indeed they go right enough.  And hence it is that God's proceedings, in His justice, are not so well discerned, the eyes of man alone being not competent judges thereof."

Thomas Fuller