PROVIDENTIAL? 7/15/12

LAST WEEKS Morning Glory was about Destiny or Chance! What about God’s providence?   “God’s care for mankind.”    His preparation and foresight in thoughtful arrangements to bring about His plans and hopes for His people! In Genesis chapter 9 God establishes a covenant with Noah. It was to bring orderliness and regularity of the seasons and of nature. Noah’s children were to be fruitful and to replenish the earth. A system of law and government was to be set up, along with penalties for crime. All foods and meat, except for the blood, was given. And the seal of this covenant was the rainbow! And of course the promise was that the earth should never again be destroyed by a universal flood such as this was. Do God’s providential acts, occur even today?


WE READ about the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We know a covenant had been established between God and Abraham, and again with Isaac and then Jacob! This covenant was to establish a nation; a people for God. Jacob, who was later called Israel, had a son named Joseph. Is this God’s providential way to bring His people together in one place? “He sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave!” Psalms 105:17

WE READ in Genesis chapter 12 about the exodus of God’s people. God, through Moses freed the Israelites from their bondage and the slavery that had become their lot during their stay in Egypt. Once out of Egypt, where were they to go and how were they to get there? “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. That they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” Genesis 13:21-22    Is this one more act of God’s providential care? Did God make plans on how to navigate these people?

WE READ in 1 Samuel chapter 16 where God sends Samuel to see a man called Jesse. Samuel hadn’t even finished his grieving over King Saul and now God wants him to anoint the new King. But Samuel did as the Lord said and after meeting all of the sons of Jesse and feeling a little out of sorts, and after asking Jesse if he had seen all of his sons; Jesse calls his youngest. When he arrives God says; “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.”  God knows His plans and He works through His people. That is why it is called God’s providential care! When we pay attention to God’s plans we too are used by Him!

TO BE used of God is one of the greatest gifts we will ever experience in our fleshly life. We often wonder, when did we ever experience being used of God. I know I have wondered! I have always felt God’s protection when I look back over my youth and when I was a young adult. I escaped so many different kinds of situations because of my innocence and because of my being totally unaware that I could be hurt or drawn into a place I didn’t want to be. Could that be God’s providential care?

WHEN Jim came into my life I wasn’t looking for a husband. When my brother Layton suggested I look at Jim for myself, I did, and was surprised to discover he was worth looking at. Was that providential care? Danny had been attending a local University for a year, and then we were made aware that his plan was to leave the area to attend a Bible College in another state with his friend, who had just graduated from high school. It was at this College that Danny met Faye and began their Christian walk together as man & wife! Providential? Or   “all good things come from God!”

WE READ books about our early America, and how God’s providential care lead President Washington through the battles that set us apart from other countries and caused our forefathers to establish a union under God! We saw how God led, through battles, men who called upon His name. He, who sits on the throne with power and glory! “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you!” Psalms 128:1-2   Learning to lean is when we begin to understand God’s providential care. We learn that success, depends upon the blessings of God!   By Jane Ann .Crenshaw 7/7/12