The Second Helvetic Confession ‑ Chapter 6
Of the Providence of God
All Things Are Governed by the
Providence of God. We believe that all things in heaven and on earth, and in
all creatures, are preserved and governed by the providence of this wise,
eternal and almighty God. For David testifies and says: The Lord is high above
all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who
is seated on high, who looks far down upon the heavens and the earth?
(Psa. 113:4 ff.). Again: Thou searchest out . . . all my ways. Even
before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether (Psa.
139:3 f.). Paul also testifies and declares: In him we live and move and have
our being (Acts 17:28), and from him and through him and to him are all things
(Rom. 11:36). Therefore Augustine most truly and according to Scripture declared
in his book De Agone Christi, cap. 8, "The Lord said, Are not two sparrows
sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your
Father's will" (Matt. 10:29). By speaking thus, he wanted to show that what
men regard as of least value is governed by God's omnipotence. For he who is the
truth says that the birds of the air are fed by him and the lilies of the field
are clothed by him; he also says that the hairs of our head are numbered (Matt.
6:26 ff.).
<Understanding the nature of providence is essential.
Understanding the exact workings of providence is impossible.
The Helvetic properly renders the truth that all things are continuously
under the direct supervision of God. We
call this supervision and ordering of events to bring about the will of God,
which is for the good of the saints providence.
When earthly situations, tragedies plague a believer doubt is often cast
upon this truth and the heresy of Epicurius
shows forth its vile head, even in the heart of a believer.
It is hard to understand that
God is in control, and yet what man perceives as bad or evil happens to the
children of God. Two points need to
underlie our theology here. First
God created and sat into motion the natural world, as we know it, and sustains
this natural progression by the power of His will alone. God has chosen and does operate within these natural rules
God created. God is above and able
to set aside any or all Anatural@
laws at any time. However to set
aside the laws of nature is a most rare occurrence when compared to the
numberless minute events that take place every second throughout the universe,
even the limited universe as we know it as mankind.
While there are then thousands of miracles in any given time period,
compared to the whole they are rare events.
Believers are part of this natural world and it includes some things we
would consider bad. It is not that
God has not kept track or does not care, it is that God has so ordered these
events that in the end of the story they will always work for the good of the
believer. That can be hard to take
when it is your child facing the surgeon’s knife, or worse yet is the one in
yon casket. It is essential for
believers to understand there are no accidents and that God is in control and
all is good, before the exercise of faith and clinging to this promise of God is
needed. It is at best a hard lesson
at any time. In the midst of
crisis, it is all but impossible to grasp, much less embrace and move forward in
spiritual growth and fellowship with Christ.
God is the God of the details of daily life.
Understand that while some will disagree, this is not the foreordination
or predestination of the Bible. So
while God knew what you would have for breakfast this morning, coffee, tea, or
milk were not set in concrete as an eternal decree or divine predestination.
Predestination has to do with the eternal decree of whom God elected, of
angels and men to inhabit heaven forever in God’s own timing.
End of predestination! Providence
has to do with how God, beyond our understanding so works the small details of
life so that the end result is for our good.
A good biblical example here is where the apostle tells us to comfort
others even as we have been comforted in Christ.
This means that God knows His children are being tried by this world and
that some will know the pit of depression for example.
Now you might ask how it is ever for the good of a person to know severe
depression. When you understand God
is in the pit with you and thank God for the learning experience (Praise God in
all things) God will lift you from the pit.
God has just equipped you to be a better comforter for another in this
pit than the best-trained counselor of grief and depression to ever live.
You speak from the soul and experience in personal testimony.
It will be effective and another person will know the comfort of God
because of your experience in the pit. Thus
another has benefit from your sufferings. Is
this not the model of Christ we are all to emulate?
Can we be more blessed than to be used of God and our love through Christ
directed toward another creating credit to our heavenly reward?
Is there anything better than to know the blessing of God and to be used
of God for His glory? Then the truth of the statement that all things work for Good
is a proven fact in life as well as in the Word of God. The Word has shown itself to be the very living Word of God
and that indeed His grace is sufficient.
By the understanding and constant observance of providence
we will find we are in accord with Scripture in another place, Namely Romans
chapter five where we learn that it is the experience of the Word in our lives
that births hope, and we are not ashamed, but know the joy of fellowship with
God through the Holy Spirit. So
experience of providence draws us into closer conformity to the Lord, and brings
the fellowship of God in the Holy Spirit to life within us and we become even
greater witnesses that grace may indeed be added to grace and the blessings of
God flow ever more abundantly in our earthly lives.
The doctrine of sowing and reaping what we sow is also spread before us
as we experience the living Word of God. From
experiencing God in our lives, we are enabled to do the will of God and we find
another Scriptural truth in effect in our lives, from him who has not it is
taken and to him who has, more is given. God
only blesses that we might be a blessing. In
this context there is no bad thing that happens to the believer, it is the will
of God and for good. The last thing
to consider here is the eternal reward coming to the obedient child, a point not
neglected by the apostle in Scripture, A
... I suppose these present sufferings are not worthy of comparison to the
rewards to come...@
Embrace providence and continue in the Word despite earthly
circumstance and watch as the blessing of God flows from His throne of grace,
not only in eternity, but today.
The Epicureans. We
therefore condemn the Epicureans who deny the providence of God, and all those
who blasphemously say that God is busy with the heavens and neither sees nor
cares about us and our affairs. David, the royal prophet, also condemned this
when he said: O Lord, how long shall the wicked exult? They say, 'The Lord does
not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.' Understand, O dullest of the
people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see? (Psa. 94:3,7‑9).
<The deist has always denied God was present and cared.
Epicureans didn’t deny there was a god, just that god cared after creation.
This is the prevalent philosophy in the days of the apostles. The denial of a
meta-narrative and that God cares, seeking only that which pleases the senses,
and brings happiness today isn’t new as most of the post-moderns and so-called
generation X also believe. The philosophy of Epicurus is alive and well and the
church would do well to so identify and deny this false prophet today even as
the author of the Helvetic did. They are free to worship their god in
heaven; I choose to worship the God of heaven who is very much present in His
created. >
Means Not To Be Despised.
Nevertheless, we do not spurn as useless the means by which divine providence
works, but we teach that we are to adapt ourselves to them in so far as they are
recommended to us in the Word of God. Wherefore we disapprove of the rash
statements of those who say that if all things are managed by the providence of
God, then our efforts and endeavors are in vain. It will be sufficient if we
leave everything to the governance of divine providence, and we will not have to
worry about anything or do anything. For although Paul understood that he sailed
under the providence of God who had said to him: You must bear witness also at
Rome (Acts 23:11), and in addition had given him the promise, There will be no
loss of life among you . . . and not a hair is to perish from the head of any of
you (Acts 27:22, 34), yet when the sailors were nevertheless thinking about
abandoning ship the same Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers: Unless
these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved (Acts 27:31). For God, who has
appointed to everything its end, has ordained the beginning and the means by
which it reaches its goal. The heathen ascribe things to blind fortune and
uncertain chance. But St. James does not want us to say: Today or tomorrow we
will go into such and such a town and trade, but adds: Instead you ought to say,
'If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that' (James 4:13,15).
And Augustine says: "Everything which to vain men seems to happen in nature
by accident, occurs only by his Word, because it happens only at his
command" (Enarrationes in Psalmos 148). Thus it seemed to happen by mere
chance when Saul, while seeking his father's asses, unexpectedly fell in with
the prophet Samuel. But previously the Lord had said to the prophet: Tomorrow I
will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin (1 Sam. 9:16).
<The examples from Scripture above are most sufficient
in themselves and I see no need to expand as far as they go.
However I would interject here another principle that seems impossible
for man most of the time. As noted
above, God is in control and has declared the end from the beginning and that
end is good, thus we praise God even in difficult times.
To this I would like to add, man can lessen the length of the season when
he properly understands providence and praises God in the midst of the turmoil
of life and hard times. It is
written that God inhabits the praise of His people.
Note well the sequence of events in Job and the unfolding story.
The trial only ends when Job submits and praises God not from the top of
the mountain, but in the valley of death. We
are commanded to rejoice in tribulation, and God chose to reach down to us and
explain why (Rom. 5). We are
commanded to pray at all times for all things.
“In everything by prayer...” So
praising God from the depth of the pit is obedience to God.
Obedience to God is to His glory and a blessing toward God.
God must then by His own Word respond and bless man in these
circumstances. God’s blessings
are conditional! “Seek ye first
the kingdom of heaven and then all these other things will be added unto you”
is the word on this subject from the Lord. >
