2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth… The term "Providence," as now commonly applied to God, does not occur in Holy Scripture. It occurs only in two passages in the Apocrypha, viz., Wisd. 14:3 and 17:3. It is, nevertheless, a term convenient and proper for the statement of a Scriptural doctrine. By those of the ancient philosophers who admitted the existence of a God, or of a plurality of gods, terms of correspondent grammatical import were employed, to express that Divine superintendence by which all things in the material creation were fitted and directed to their proper ends, and by which the universe was kept from falling back into that state of chaos which was supposed to have preceded the present orderly and beauteous frame of things. After their example, we have learned to employ the term "Providence," for the purpose of describing "the conduct and direction of the several parts of the universe by a superintending and intelligent Being." My purpose is to invite your attention to such views of the providence of God as more immediately affect the higher interests of man. I. First, then, we inquire into the GENERAL PROOFS EVINCING A DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 1. The first of these proofs is drawn from the moral fitness and necessity of such a Providence. The Psalmist teaches us he is a "fool" who says "There is no God"; and surely he is not less so who, professing to believe in the existence of such a God as the Jehovah of the Scriptures, can say, "There is no Providence." Some writers on this subject have gone so far as to assert that, in the abstract, the idea of a God without a providence involves a contradiction. But the truth of that position may be reasonably questioned. It we suppose a God, invested with no higher attributes than those which were applied to the false deities of ancient heathenism, where is the folly of farther supposing Him to dwell in a remote and selfish seclusion from terrestrial things? In this respect, the followers of Epicurus gave good proof of their consistency at least when, believing only in such gods as those referred to, they not only denied them to be the governors, but also the creators, of the world; it being, as they rightly judged, but reasonable to conclude that such gods had neither the wisdom nor the power to create, or govern, such a world as this. And they were equally consistent when, having no distinct notion of any intelligent Being to whom the lofty attributes of eternal existence and universal power might be considered as pertaining, they attributed eternity to matter, and give the empire of the world to chance. Were there in reality no higher object of worship than the daemon-gods of Greece and Rome, and were there, consequently, no Providence but such as these gods might be supposed to be capable of exercising, it were surely consistent with good reason and benevolence at least to wish the sceptre of the world's dominion might be wrested from their grasp, and that, rather than be subject to such rule, the course of nature and of all events might be committed to the sportive dance of atoms and the blind rush of accidental causes. But if, as taught in Scripture, we acknowledge, as the first cause of all created things, a Being absolutely perfect, and therefore infinite in wisdom, in goodness, and in power, we must at the same time admit a Divine Providence as still sustaining and governing the universe which He has made; and especially we must admit there is a Providence, to administer and overrule the affairs and interests of men. Much as it has laboured on that point, "the wisdom of this world" presents us with no principles which can at all suffice to show how anything created can even continue to exist unless by a perpetual exertion of wisdom and power on the part of Him who first called it into being; or how, upon the supposition that the Divine guidance and support should be withdrawn, the world could do otherwise than immediately sink back into the nothingness from which it originally sprung. Even supposing the material creation, in "the dew" of its "morning," and in the beauty of its primaeval excellence, to have received the impression of such properties and laws as would have been sufficient, but for the positive intervention of some disturbing cause, to perpetuate its existence and its order, yet we cannot contemplate the character and aspect of the world, as it exists at present, and especially we cannot contemplate its moral character and aspect, without perceiving the necessity of a Divine Providence, to counteract the evils which have gained access to it. That the universal Creator should leave, without a providence, a world like this, in which evil of all kinds has won so large and terrible a sway, and in which there are so many fearful tendencies to universal mischief and confusion, would neither be consistent with wisdom, nor goodness, nor justice, on any other supposition than that of man's having been judiciously abandoned, without hope of redemption, to reap the natural fruit of his own evil and rebellious doings. 2. The second proof of a Divine Providence is found in the positive and repeated testimony of Holy Writ. 3. A third proof evincing a Divine Providence is found in certain miraculous attestations which have occasionally marked its interposition. We are enabled to point out numerous occasions on which God has come forth from the "hiding-place" in which He usually dwells and carries on His operations and has shown Himself, as it is stated in my text, by tokens which could not but be seen, and which could not be mistaken. There is the flood coming on "the world of the ungodly," whilst Noah and his family, being "warned of God," are directed to the means of their exemption from the general destruction. We point to "the cities of the plain, turned into ashes by fire and brimstone, which the Lord rained upon them out of heaven," whilst righteous Lot is escorted by angelic attendants to a place of safety. We will exhibit to him the long roll of those "mighty acts and wonders" which are displayed in the history of the Israelitish people. We contemplate the strange deliverance of Daniel and his three countrymen from the power of savage beasts and from the rage of the devouring flame. We will show him how Nature herself — the imaginary deity whom infidels pretend to worship — has in many instances forgotten her own laws, and been arrested, or even turned backwards, in her course; and we will challenge him to show us how these stupendous anomalies are to be accounted for, unless upon the supposition that in these instances there was the interposition of a Power superior to anything that has ever been understood by the term Nature — an interposition which must necessarily lead us to admit the providence for which we are contending. II. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THAT DIVINE PROVIDENCE WHICH IS DEMONSTRATED TO EXIST. 1. This Providence is universal, "for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." By a universal Providence we mean a Providence which is at the same time general and particular. Indeed a Providence which is Divine must necessarily bear both these characteristics. No argument can be adduced in favour of the one which is not equally applicable in favour of the other; and we cannot exclude either of them from our notion of that Providence by which the world is governed without admitting into our notion of the Deity by whom that providence is exercised an imperfection of which He is incapable. For, in excluding either a general or a particular Providence, we necessarily suppose some portion of our world, of greater or less extent, from which the Divine presence and care are totally excluded. It is true that we are utterly confounded in every attempt we make to estimate the wisdom and power and condescension which are required to be in constant exercise, in order to the maintenance of an inspection so vast in its extent, and yet so minute in its details. But from this feeling of astonishment no objection would arise against the doctrine either of a general or a particular Providence, were it not for those monstrously absurd comparisons which we are wont to institute between the Almighty and ourselves, together with our strange forgetfulness of the important truth that God is everywhere present at one and the same time; and that to One whose knowledge and power are subject to no bound or imperfection, it must be quite as easy to attend to many things, however numerous or complicated they may be, as to attend to only one. 2. A second characteristic of the providence of God is its beneficence. In all its operations it regards, as its final object, the welfare of mankind in general; and as far as may be found consistent with that object, the welfare of individuals in particular. This general purpose of beneficence is to a great degree apparent in the general provision which is made for human sustenance and comfort. It is impossible to view the astonishing arrangements which everywhere display themselves, for the supply of "food convenient for us," and for the general preservation of our race, without being prompted to exclaim, "Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; Thy paths drop fatness." And the moral ends contemplated by a Providence which is thus mindful of our bodily necessities, and of our humblest natural infirmities, must be, in even more than an equal degree, characterised by a pure and infinite beneficence. There may at first, indeed, appear to be something almost incompatible with such a doctrine, in the affliction and misery which desolate the earth. But the difficulty arising on that ground is easily resolved by such considerations as the following:(1) In the first place, much of the natural evil which exists is rendered, in some sort, necessary by the depravity of man. It constitutes, in fact, a part of that salutary chastening by which, not unmindful even of the prodigal who has wandered from His household, and "wasted his substance in riotous living," our heavenly Father seeks to recover "the children of disobedience to the wisdom of the just"; or if they are already recovered, opens to their faith the means of apprehending "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." In vain, perhaps, have been the attempts of His Providence, by the dispensations of its bounty, to win the thoughtless wanderer to reflection and repentance; "but in the day of his affliction," says Jehovah, "he will seek Me early." In mercy, therefore, to the sinner, rather than in anger, and not with anything like a vindictive purpose, He lays His chastening hand upon him. (2) Even in those cases where individuals, or collective communities of men, derive themselves no moral benefits from the evils which they suffer, yet very frequently there results a moral benefit to others; and thus, under all the circumstances of such cases, the infliction of those evils is vindicated, as being consistent with the goodness and mercy of God, not less than with His justice. We cannot but adore, amidst the justice and judgment displayed in their destruction, the goodness which was careful so to order the circumstances of their fate as to render it in the most eminent degree available to the instruction and benefit of all succeeding generations. 3. A third characteristic of Divine Providence is its mysteriousness. I do not say that there is any mystery as to the general object which that Providence regards. We have already "seen the end of the Lord, that He is pitiful and of great mercy." But of the course which He pursues to the attainment of that end, it may frequently be said, that "His path is in the whirlwind, and His way in the great deep, and His footsteps are not. known." And surely a Providence which is Divine must necessarily, in the detail of many of its plans and operations, appear to be mysterious to creatures so short-sighted as we are. It is certainly right, because perfectly consistent with just notions of the God whom we adore, that we should acknowledge the existence of mysteries in providence; but why should we profess to wonder at such mysteries, while there remain so many mysteries in Nature? I have said that the general principles of the Divine administration of the world are clearly made known. But I remember the saying of a great man, now no more, that "things pertaining to God may be mysterious, in proportion as they are revealed"; and I cannot but feel the application of that paradoxical yet just position to the point which is before us. Were God a finite being, like ourselves, the revelation of the principles on which He acts, however vast and comprehensive in their range and application those principles might be, would not, perhaps, be such as we should be unable adequately to conceive. But principles which know no limit, in themselves or in their application, save that which is imposed by the will, or by the necessity, of a Divine and incomprehensible nature, must necessarily, in whatever degree they are revealed to us, remain mysterious because of their infinity; and the more nearly we are enabled to contemplate those principles, the more overpowering — I had almost said, the more bewildering — will be the effect of their united splendour, both on our mental and spiritual vision. And then, besides the physical reason to which I have referred, why the providence of God should in many of its dispensations be mysterious, there is a moral reason — a reason arising out of the beneficence by which the operations of that providence are shaped to their intended issue. For were those operations free from mystery, then would our faith want those trials which constitute its most important and profitable exercise; and in wanting those trials, it would want, at the same time, the arena on which it wins its brightest victories, and becomes entitled to its richest and most glorious reward. Think, for example, of the difference which it might have made to Abraham if in his path to the attainment and confirmation of the promise in regard to his son Isaac, there had been no adverse hope against which he might continue to "believe in hope," and no apparent impossibilities in the midst of which he might still be "strong in faith, giving glory to God." 4. There remains to be noticed yet one other characteristic of the providence of God, and that is, its entire subservience to the purposes of His redeeming grace. Indeed, it is altogether of that grace that there exists at all a Providence of such a character; in other words, had there been no redeeming grace, then no such Providence could have existed. No; it is then only accounted for on principles justly claiming to be considered "rational," when it is set forth as the result of "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ." On the part of persons who maintain a contrary opinion, we sometimes hear the question, "How can the death of Christ, as an atoning sacrifice, be made to seem consistent either with perfect justice or with perfect goodness?" But we may retort that question with another, which they will find it much more difficult to answer. Suppose our fallen world to have been left without redemption, and that no means had been devised, in the counsels of the Divine grace and wisdom, for the recovery of its guilty population to "the favour and the peace of God," where then would have been the consistency — nay, where the possibility, of a Providence so condescending and beneficent as that which now appears? Or where would have been the actual benefit to man of a Providence to correct and modify the course of outward things, if he had still been doomed, for want of a Redeemer, to bear for ever the burden of a guilt for which there was no expiation? But let us take that doctrine along with us, and we then discover an apt and harmonious reason for such a Providence, by which its utmost beneficence is justified. And, as that characteristic of the providence of God which renders it especially dear and valuable to us originates in, or operates at least as the result of, the "grace" which "came by Jesus Christ," so, as already stated, it is ever in subservience to the purposes of the same grace that its operations are conducted. It is thus in those extensive operations which involve the character and fats of nations and empires. It were vain for us to indulge in speculation as to the objects which Jehovah might contemplate, on the supposition of man's having continued in his original uprightness. We have the fact of his departure from that character into a state of guilty estrangement and hostility. And taking the world in its present circumstances, and seeing that "God so loved that world," fallen as it is, as to "give His only begotten Son" for its redemption, we may be assured that there can be no object dearer to the heart of God than that His Son should "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied," in the reception of "the heathen for His inheritance," and of "the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession." As the providence of God thus stands, and ever must stand, connected with the purposes of His redeeming grace, so it is in those cases where the grace of God specially prevails, that this Providence specially exerts its powerful and benignant operation; or, as stated in the text, it is "on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him" that the Lord "shews Himself strong," and for their sakes more especially His "eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth." In other words, He is eminently the God of providence to those who bow before Him, and rejoice in Him, as the God of comforting and sanctifying grace. Doubtless, this was one of the great truths designed to be set forth by those numerous providential interpositions which shed so illustrious a light upon the early history of the Israelitish people. On this express condition, that they should "have no other gods before Him," and that they should "keep His statutes and His judgments diligently, to do them," Jehovah engaged on His part to "shew himself strong" on their behalf, in such a manner as should render them the astonishment and envy of surrounding nations. And, on the other hand, the judgment so frequently inflicted on that people during their journeys through the wilderness, and in the subsequent periods of their history, and more especially their present wonderful dispersion throughout other nations, go to remind us, with equal emphasis and certainty, that it is only in proportion as our heart is "perfect toward Him" that God can be expected to "shew Himself strong" on our behalf. We thus perceive that the great lesson intended to be taught by all the mighty acts and wonders which God did for Israel is, that the same God will ever in a peculiar manner, ears for those who, being Christ's, are therefore "Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise," whilst those who are yet "aliens," or outcasts from His spiritual Israel, though not excluded entirely from His providential care, shall still enjoy that care in an inferior degree. It is on this ground that we discover the foundation of those promises which ensure to all God's people, in their individual as well as their collective character, an adequate supply of all their bodily and temporal necessities. For if, as intimated in the history of the Jewish people, the providence of God is the handmaid of His grace, and, as such, is commissioned with the special care of those "whose heart is perfect toward Him," then, unless we would again charge an all-perfect Being with infirmity, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that all those things which Nature absolutely needs, and the providing of which often brings so severe a burden on the mind, "shall (certainly) be added." Again, the principle that the operations of God's providence are subservient to the purposes of His grace sheds no inconsiderable light upon the mystery which is "supposed to be presented when, whilst the ungodly "increase in riches," and "have more than heart could wish," the man whose heart, if not absolutely perfect toward God, is yet, in general, upright and sincere before Him, is "plagued till the day long, and chastened every morning." It is not that He who claims as His own, "the gold and the silver, and the cattle on a thousand hills," would merely "for His own pleasure" deny to His people the advantages of health and riches. But He regards their eternal salvation as being an object infinitely more important than their worldly comfort, and to this one great object all others must be subordinate and secondary. 1. In the first place, the doctrine of a Divine Providence, that Providence being beneficent as well as universal, condemns that excessive anxiety with which we are so prone to burden and distress ourselves. 2. Secondly, this doctrine inculcates the duty, and when heartily embraced, it will inspire the feeling, of a grateful acquiescence in our lot, however far removed that lot may be from the circumstances which we should have chosen for ourselves. 3. More especially, this subject, as connecting the operations of God's providence with the purposes of His grace, calls upon us to look well to it, that our own "hearts are perfect towards Him"; and that, in order to their being so, they are the subjects of that grace which can alone destroy their deceitfulness and enmity, and render them a holy and acceptable sacrifice. (J. Crowther.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. |
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