Divine Providence

““The Providence of God is like Hebrew words-it can be read only backwards”

John Flavel

If you are a Christian you can certainly understand the meaning of this quote. The times you are in now verses the time before your conversion may be a drastic difference that can only be deciphered by going what seems to be backwards.

When I think back on events of my life before my conversion, I now see all events on a set path. There was some bad times that I felt like I may not make it through, and some times when I shouldnt have come out living. But those times, as well as all the others, were tightly connected and directed by the Providence of God.

Gods Providence not only guides us through our Christian walk, but it guides us to its very beginning. It’s the very means by which God accomplishes His purpose in the universe, and in the hearts and affairs of men.

Take Genesis 37 as a great example of the Providence of God. Joseph’s brothers despised him and couldn’t even say anything good about him. They wanted to kill him but their minds were changed, so they decided to sell him to the Ishmaelite traders. Later in the story Joseph said something profound to his brothers: Genesis 50-20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

For myself, when I look back on my life, Providence is the divine thread that weaves through its whole course. But during those terrible moments, and even the not so terrible ones, I could not see or know what I do now. I could not figure out the why. I never understood the reason things were happening the way they were and didn’t know where I would end up next.

For some of those things, I see it now. Just like the Hebrew language, I can start at the end and work my way back for the clear picture. The terrible events and the not so terrible ones was directing me to God.

These events were not random. God didn’t look down at my situation and begin to try to make good out of bad. The entire series of my life before conversion was in His hand and He led me to and through it all, eventually to Him.

Many times I have a memory of my younger years and as I think about that memory compared to my whole life story so far, it makes sense. God knew me from the beginning. He kept me during the bad times and called me. This call could not be diminished, ignored, delayed or destroyed. It was His holy call.

All the happenings of my life was to bring me to Him. Through His Providence He directed each year, each day, each second, every situation.

If I am granted another five years, or another 40, I will be able to look back from then to this day and see the same divine thread continuously woven throughout my life. Not a day will ever pass for mankind apart from and without the Providence of God. And many times it will go unnoticed unless, through providence, you read the story of your life backwards starting with now.