God's Involvement in My Life

As I study my Bible and experience spiritual growth as a Christian, I become more and more impressed with the characteristics of God. God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible. Within the Bible’s opening remarks we are informed of the powerful God who is in control of His creation. When the seven days of creation come to a close, we recognize that God is not only in control of His creation, but He equally cares for that creation. In point of fact, the use of the name for God changes in the Hebrew language from Elohim (Supreme God) to Yahovah (Lord of His people—relational).

In this study we want to develop a greater appreciation for the fact that God is still in control today and cares enough to work in your life and mine. Another way of looking at it is, “What do the Scriptures Say About God’s Providence?”

The best I can tell, the word providence, with reference to God, never appears in the Bible. However, there is ample evidence in the Bible of God’s pro-vidence. Consider the special providence of God as it related to Joseph. Read Genesis 45:4-8.

One of the greatest examples of the providential hand of God is found in the book of Esther. Read Esther 4:10-14 and be especially impressed with these words, “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Does God work in our lives today? No question about it. We simply want to know how. Quite frankly, we could theorize on how God operates or we could simply discuss how God’s providence affects humanity. I am more interested in the latter. So, by way of our study together, I only want to make three observations as it relates to the fact of God’s involvement in our lives.

Men have made mistakes about God’s involvement.
Some men have made the mistake of saying that God created the world and then backed off. Another word for this is deism. The problem with this is that it is simply not true. It denies historical and biblical facts (Dan. 4).

Another error made by men is that God created the world and then predestined what would happen in the lives of every individual. This is called Calvinism. It’s the idea that what is going to happen will happen. Again, there is a problem here. It disregards the biblical truth of free choice (Josh. 24:15; 2 Pt. 3:9).

Then there is the philosophy that says that everything that happens in the life of a Christian falls under the banner of the miraculous. Those who teach Pentecostalism hold this view. Again, this view violates Scripture (1 Cor. 13:10).

So you ask, “How do you know God works today?” Read Matthew 6:25-34 and be impressed with the fact that humanity enjoys the general providence of God, and God’s people enjoy His special providence.

There are limits to God’s involvement.
It would be quite easy for us to sit back and say that because God is all-powerful, He is providentially guiding every situation of life. The only problem with this is that it oversimplifies the issue. For example, consider Job and his “three friends.” When Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard of Job’s condition they said in essence that God is doing this great wickedness to Job because of something that Job had done. However, it was not God at all who was causing this great suffering to fall upon Job. It was Satan (Job 1:12). God allowed it, but God did not cause it.

We certainly do not want to oversimplify things and say that God causes everything. There are several reasons why. One, there is something called coincidence. Solomon said, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all” (Eccl. 9:11). Two, there is the fact that the devil is at work today. Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pt. 5:8). Three, some things just occur due to the fact that we are mere mortals. By that I mean such things as old age, illness, and then death.

What the Bible says about God’s involvement.
The Bible tells us that there is both a general and a special sense in which God works in the lives of His creation. In a general sense, it is true that God is involved in the lives of all humanity. Jesus said, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt. 5:45).

There is a special sense in which God works in the lives of His people. David credited God for helping him in a special way (Psa. 23). The Proverbs writer said that God is always to be acknowledged and that God will direct the paths of His people (Prov. 3:6). Jesus taught his disciples to pray for specific blessings and that those blessings would be provided (Mt. 6:11; Mt. 7:11). Jesus further taught that as His people put the kingdom of God first, God would shower upon them their necessities (Mt. 6:33).

The Bible does not call it providence, but the principle of God’s pro-vidence does exist, nonetheless. I may not know how God’s providence works. I may not know the extent of God’s involvement in my life. However, I do know that He is my Creator God who continually cares for His creation. That is good enough for me.

Sources:
1. The scripture references are from the King James Version.
2. Louis Rushmore. “The Providence of God,” oldpaths.com/ archive/rushmore/louis/everette/1954/providen.html
3. Glenn Colley. God is Involved in My Life. West Huntsville Church of Christ, November 20, 2005.