[Printable version]
[Also published in Nuggets for the Needy]
Omega Message – October 1983
Mavis M. duCille
Some weeks ago I awoke in the wee hours of the morning with a verse of scripture in my heart – Philippians 4:19.
Phil.4:19 “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”
On receiving this scripture, the first thought that came to my mind was in the natural – Oh yes, I thought, God is going to supply, physical and financial needs. Soon however, the Lord opened my understanding to realize that the greatest need today is, that we may know him, in His acts and ways. Yes we stumble and falter and are discouraged because we are not acquainted with His ways and His dealings with His creatures.
Surely, He provides for our physical needs, but sometimes He uses different methods that cause us to be built up in faith and virtue. When these dealings are set in motion, the flesh or carnal nature; because of lack of knowledge, rises up and rebels and then breaks. Divine Providence is that which slays the man so that the Christ might live and be exalted in our lives. He knows the ingredients and proportions necessary to do the job. Oh how we need the job done, but also, how we scream and squirm when the knife of circumstances begins to cut away the flesh. Sometimes we are unaware of the fact that, “..it works the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
God’s providence proclaims His wisdom – beyond man’s knowledge and experience. No other could form the correct plan for man to gain the desired results.
His Power:
God alone has the ability to exercise authority, impartially – He sustains the world.
On many occasions Divine Intervention shows His power in miraculous deeds of deliverance. His mighty hand and outstretched arm by which He brought His people out of Egypt, is still mighty and outstretched in our time. He showed His power over the power of Pharaoh, and now He has given us Power over the Power of the Enemy. No matter what your battle might be at this time, God has given you power over that strong thing which oppresses you, through Divine Provision. Reach out and lay hold of that power right now and the God of Providence shall set you free.
His Glory:
His wealth, splendor, honor – We are His product in righteousness through grace – We are His Glory, being His workmanship.
His Presentation:
Divine Providence presents God’s nature to mankind, that His Glory may fill the temple. The temple must be emptied of all ugliness, that it might be filled with His Glory, which sometimes is like taking the bitter herbs which the Israelites had to eat with the roasted lamb.
His Goodness:
He is honorable, admirable, Worthy; Oh the beneficence of God extending far beyond what we ask or think. One writer says: “God is morally perfect and gloriously generous.” This is a very apt description of His goodness. Maintaining the thought that God Is Good, is a sustaining factor throughout our walk and experience with God. What God does, creates, commands, gives and allows is done through His goodness, always mindful of Creation and His creatures. Thus, all things can work together for good – seeing, He through Divine Providence can cause what was intended for evil, to work good, though sometimes after much cutting of the flesh. Total trust and total obedience is absolutely necessary as God deals with us, seeing His ways are past finding out, BUT one thing is sure, it works for our good, to them that love Him, – “If you love me, keep my commandment.” LOVE therefore is fulfilled in trust and obedience.
Should God withdraw outward prosperity from His people and hardships are experienced, there is still a sense in which He is doing good.
Divine Providence is always working that which is good. Being afflicted yields correction for subsequent benefit and is an exercise in strength, faith, patience, obedience and endurance. Anything that drives man closer to God is for good; therefore temporary distresses work for the Christian, an eternal weight of glory. The un-gratifying circumstances can be numbered among God’s good gifts and the expression of His beneficence if rightly used to lasting profit.
Jacob’s divisive thinking was changed from vanity to profit, through Divine Providence. He is a God of present help, present power, present refuge. Jacob or no other could have thought out that plan for present help – Divine Providence took care of it all, and Jacob must have rejoiced in such a deliverance from a plotting scheming mind into the mind of one who could rightly be called, Prince of God (Israel). This brought him into the place of a more personal experience with God, thus the expression – the God of power and might.
Jesus Christ our Providence, does not only see ahead, but watches over His people. He has a concentrated attention that extends to every place and circumstance, seeing into the minutest as also the largest situations, caring for the smallest as well as the greatest; watching over the affairs of men, their success and failure, even the most insignificant things, protecting and caring in every way.
Divine Providence has a restricting and preventing hand, though man may be allowed to cherish and manifest his evil desires, it causes him to either hate and despise it or through God’s providence submit his will to be united with God’s will in the operation of righteousness, or love and embrace it to his own destruction.
God is in perfect control of good and evil, yet every man is free, but justice must be meted out to the rebellious and mercy for all who seek mercy.
Divine Providence secures, to some extent, moral order in the world, a power to discourage vice and encourage virtue. Seeing the circumstances that govern man from birth, environmental, etc.; are not humanly controlled and man being a creature of choice is able through Divine Providence (God’s intervention) to escape destruction or whatever is determined against him, God is directly involved with His creation and will always allow particular events to work His perfect will – whether it be in working Virtue or in evil out of us.
Rejoice therefore, and let the circumstances work in us that which nothing else could do. Circumstances change things for good or evil but God’s intervention will always cause the change to be for good.
Sonlight Devotional 