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The God Who Is
Examples Of Providence
In Psalm 90, beginning with verse 1, Moses prays, "LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." In verse 3, he confesses that God "turnest man to destruction; and sayest, `Return, ye children of men.'" It is God who sends men back to the clay from which they were made. Matthew Henry declares this verse teaches God's absolute sovereignty to dispose of man as He will.
The Numbering Of Israel
David sinned when he numbered Israel. In II Samuel chapter 24, the Bible reads, "And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, `Go number Israel and Judah'" (verse 1). Note, that it was the Lord who moved David to do this. Note also, that the reason the Lord did this was that He was angry with Israel.
In verse 10, we read, "And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, `I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly."
Consider the account as it is recorded in I Chronicles chapter 21, beginning in verse 1: "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." The reason Samuel tells us God moved David to do this is because the Devil is one of God's most faithful servants: he does exactly as he is supposed to do. "He created the waster to destroy."
Someone will ask, "Does this not teach the permissive will of God? that God simply permitted this thing to be?" No, it does not. Consider the case of Sennacherib.
Of Sennacherib
In Isaiah chapter 10, beginning with verse 5, we read, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was a scourge in God's hand to punish his people. Note verse 12: "Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." After king Sennacherib had punished Israel, he and his people would become so arrogant that the prophet Isaiah tells Hezekiah, king of Judah, that God will then punish Sennacherib and his people.
Providence and The Plan Of God
"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, `Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, `Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be manifest in him'" (John 9:1-3).
Note first that the disciples thought it was only on account of sin that God would allow such trials and tribulations to vex men. There are many reasons for troubles other than for judgment. The reason this man was born blind was that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Second, When the Bible says, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents," Jesus does not mean that either this man or his parents were sinless "for there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). He simply means that sin is not the reason this man was born blind.
God Often For A Season Leaves His Children To Temptations and To Heart Corruptions
The Philadelphia Confession of Faith (1720) like the London Confession of 1689 declares that according to the Bible, God often for a season leaves His children to temptations and to heart corruptions. Sin is a judgment of God. When He delivers up a person or a nation to commit sin, they are already suffering His judgment; and for the commission of sin, He will further judge them. Men think that God will judge them only after they sin, but the fact they do sin is a sign God is already judging them. He simply gives men the rope to hang themselves.
Sometimes God leaves His children to temptations and to corruptions in order to chasten them for former sins. At other times, it is to humble them. Sometimes God leaves His children for a season in order that they might learn to look to Him; that they might remember they are dependent upon Him for all things. Sometimes God does it to teach men to watch and to be on their guard. And, sometimes God leaves His children to temptations and heart corruptions in order for them to discover the corruption and the deceitfulness that lurks in their hearts.