05/15/2024
Let’s quickly define "divine providence" in our lives today as it relates to the “trouble” we experience. The concept of “divine providence” has different, and broader, meanings to various denominations and religions but is generally the same in the fact that it is regarded to mean that God is in control of creation. So without going too much further into the differences between what people believe, let’s agree to agree on this focused idea. Now onto the word, and focus of our study today, “trouble”. E.M. Bounds wrote that "trouble naturally belongs to God's moral government and is one of His invaluable agents in governing the world.” He wrote this while expounding on the subject of "trouble”, which in and of its self is a very interesting concept. I was thrilled with the scripture reference he chose to use today...
“Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
Job 5:6-7 KJV
At first glance we might think that Job was referring here to the fact that man is born to experience trouble, but what he is actually stating goes much further than that. He is saying that nature knows nothing of trouble. Trouble is the divergence of our will from God's will, and our experiences from His desires... Consider this: A farmer needs rain to grow his wheat, but none comes. Trouble is not that the rain didn't come... Trouble is that the man desires to grow wheat and needs something he doesn't have to accomplish his desire. Trouble is not a physical thing, but rather a state of mind that exists in man. Without man there is no trouble… just nature.
It is interesting to me that the term divine providence, doesn't appear in the bible. As a matter of fact, the word providence itself only appears once, and here is the verse…
“And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,”
Acts 24:2 KJV
This same word that was translated as providence here in Acts is later translated as provision in Romans 13:14.
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Romans 13:14 KJV
So why was this term chosen? Why did E.M. Bounds choose to write about trouble using a phrase that appears more in documents such as the United States Constitution than the bible?
I believe it is because men came to realize that the "trouble" they experienced was under the sovereign control of God. He uses our desires and separation from His will to instruct us, and as a reason for disciplining us. The circumstances that bring “trouble” into our lives aren't actually the trouble itself... No, trouble is intrinsic to our own consciousness, and God deals with those circumstances as a way of dealing with our conscious and spiritual selves.
So, this is a matter of reuniting our desires with His, and our wills with His. God doesn't react to trouble as we do because all the world falls within His divine will (divine providence); it is we who have strayed and we who He loves so much that He would recast our lives and circumstances to reclaim the accord between our wills and His.
Maybe my Dad was right when he would speak to me of my fears as being "all in your head." Winston Churchill also understood this when he told the world in a famous speech that “there is nothing to fear but fear itself”. “Trouble” is our perception of perfection as seen in those things which cause us to deviate from it.
Today as we pray for God's intervention and provision in regards to our “troubles”, let's realize that He provides for us not simply to make us happy, but to reunite us with Himself and to teach us in the process. “Trouble” is a state of mind and the Lord desires that we be likeminded with Him, and united with Him in His will. What is causing us to experience this separation from God today, and to feel “troubled?”
Prayer:
Father, thank you for showing us that “trouble”, although it seems very real to us, is actually something we perceive, or imagine, and not a tangible thing at all. Thank you Father for showing us how to deal with this concept of “trouble” by altering the way we perceive it, or by allowing you to do that for us. Help us Lord to remain calm and righteous in the face of these imagined circumstance that lead us to fear, and to be less like you and Jesus. Help us to place you, your tenets, and commandments, before all things, even those that we come to you with and call “trouble”. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who was, and is, and who will forever be, the ruler over our ”troubles” by teaching us to see them through your eyes. You teach us to love our enemies and our neighbors as ourselves, help us now to love ourselves better by loving you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Teach us how to have dominion over those things we consider to be “trouble” by seeing you in them, and by learning to lessen the influence of the world as we increase in you. You are merciful and full of grace Abba, and take the world as it is. You then transform us as we walk through all of those things we consider to be its imperfections. Show us today Lord that you don’t desire to change the world… you desire to change us by transforming our hearts, souls, and minds. Come Holy Spirit, and give us understanding; not of “trouble”, nor of a solution to it, but of how we are to rule over it through our faith and belief in Christ Jesus. In this way help us to see eternity in the presence of God for what it is, perfect, and ourselves as being perfected by Christ in it. Praised be your Holy name Father, and great and glorious are you who has always been without “trouble”, and who now, and always will be… perfect in all things… forevermore.
Amen!
Rich Forbes