Providence Linked to Contentment

By Jenny

Part 1

I am currently in the process of finishing a book called “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” by Jeremiah Burroughs a 17^th century English puritan preacher; truly one of the great old dead guys. This book is a compilation of sermons that he preached on the subject of contentment to “revive the drooping spirits of the saints in these sad and sinking times” and was first published in 1648. It is a slow read because of the language but also because it takes time to meditate on the depths of wisdom that comes from within this little paperback.

What he wrote over 350 years ago is still very relevant in our time. Discontentment is rampant among Christians today and is a sin that we easily fall prey to. You would think with the relative ease of comfort that we live our lives in today that it would not be so, but the human flesh is weak and is easily tempted if not on guard.

In Chapter 6 Jeremiah looks at how Christ teaches contentment and within that chapter is a section dedicated to the right knowledge of God’s providence. Therein lays four points.

1. The Universality of Providence – God’s providence reaches to every detail: not one hair falls from your head, not a sparrow to the ground, without the providence of God. Nothing befalls you good or evil. In every particular happening from morning to night every day, that there is nothing that befalls you that the hand of God is not in it.
2. The efficacy that is in providence – The providence of God goes on in all things, with strength and power, and will not be altered by our power. All our vexing and fretting will not alter and change its course. Job 18:4.
3. The infinite variety of the works of providence, and yet the order of things, one working towards another – We look at things by pieces but God looks at all things at once and sees the relation that one has to another. When God has ordered a thing for the present to be thus and thus, how do you know how many things depend upon this thing? When you want to have your will in a certain detail, you may cross God in a thousand things that may depend on that one thing.
4. The knowledge of God’s usual way in the dealings with His people more particularly – The right understanding of the way of God in his providence towards his saints. Those who do not understand the way of God are troubled with the providences of God and think them strange.

Understanding God’s providential care for us, if applied properly, can lead to a contented life. What a witness to a much discontented world! Next time we will look at three things that will help us understand God’s ways in dealing with His people.

Providence and Sovereignty

This past Sunday I was given a slip of paper with the question: “In the next few months, what will be coming up in the life of you or your family?” Most of us would not hesitate to jump right in and expound on our plans for the future. But a question like this should be answered with hesitancy and give us pause to reflect on the God whom we serve and our perception of how He operates in our lives.

First and foremost, God is absolutely sovereign and within His sovereignty is His providence. Sovereignty is the free exercise of God’s will and authority over all things. Providence is God’s active, continual involvement in guiding all people, events, and circumstances, whether good or evil, toward their divinely appointed ends. Following are three scriptures that are personal favorites of mine and that I have had to make application of many times:

Prov 16:9- A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

Prov 19:21- There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel; that will stand

James 5:14-15- whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

There is absolutely nothing wrong with planning. There is wisdom in planning. I myself am the chief of all planners. And my plans have been thwarted many times. We should not be surprised, or even discouraged, when our Sovereign God, in His providential care for us, comes in and “interferes” in our lives for our own good and for His good will and purposes. When our plans do not come to fruition, many times because of trials and tribulation, we should not get upset but be thankful to God that He providentially cares for us enough to intervene and direct our steps.

Calvin gives great advice concerning the providence of God:

Gratitude of mind for the favorable outcome of things, patience in adversity and also incredible freedom from worry about the future all necessarily follow upon this knowledge. Therefore, whatever shall happen prosperously and according to the desire of his heart, God’s servant will attribute wholly to God, whether he feels God’s beneficence through the ministry of men, or has been helped by inanimate creatures. For thus he will reason in his mind: surely it is the Lord who has inclined their hearts to me, who has so bound them to me that they should become the instruments of his kindness.