The Providence of God is often used as a shorthand for “If God permits”. But what do we mean by these terms? I fear there is much mental haziness and confusion at this point in the Christian landscape.
Defining Providence
The 27th article of the Heidelberg Catechism defines God’s Providence as:
“…his almighty and ever present power,1 whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures,2 and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty,3 indeed, all things, come to us not by chance4 but by his fatherly hand.
God’s Providence is His Almighty and Ever-present Power
The Catechism opens with a statement of the Almighty and ever-present power of God—which at once unequivocally asserts His active involvement in the cosmos.
“Am I a God at hand, declared the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” (Jer. 23:23-24)
Restated another way, God asks in this passage, “am I not both very near and very far away? Does the fact that I am high and lifted mean I am not involved in the daily affairs of the world?” This question is, of course, rhetorical. It expects a negative answer. God is merely stating the obvious, as evidenced by the subsequent verse, where God declares, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” However, many today hold that God created the world and then left it to run on some ‘natural principles’. In other words, God put some laws in place after creation and retired from running things on the earth. God is more like an absentee Landlord to those who hold this erroneous view.
Still, others say man is in charge of things after God asked him to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28)
Who do you think holds the decisive sway over what happens on earth? Is man in charge, or God?
The Heidelberg catechism goes on to affirm, “whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures” and provides Hebrews 1:3 as proof: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
Acts 17:24-25, 28 further amplifies this understanding:
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. For “in him we live and move and have our being;”
We see from here that i) God is both Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, and ii) is in charge. He is the Sovereign ruler.
A False Understanding of Satan as the God of This World
Satan is sometimes called the ‘ruler of this world’ (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11) or ‘god of this world (2Cor 4:4), “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), a ‘cosmic power over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). Notably, during Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Luke records “The [devil] took Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then, will worship me, it will be yours.” (Luke 4:5-7)
Based on the above, many well-meaning Christians today believe that Satan holds the decisive sway over what happens on the earth. But does he? Let us scrutinise the validity of this notion against the entire Scriptural teaching. Satan’s claim to have been given the kingdoms of the world and has the power to give it to whom he wills is only partially true. Yes, he at times manoeuvres an evil person to power but he only does so only to the degree that God permits him to do so.
The Bible clarifies who truly holds sovereign control: “[God] removes kings and sets up kings,” (Daniel 2:21). “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” (Daniel 4:17), and, “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1). Furthermore, every king is subject to God’s Sovereign will: The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1)
And when nations rise against God in rebellion, Psalms 2:2-4 says, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in heaven laughs; the Lord holds them in derision”. Psalm 33:10-11 further declares: “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”
We conclude from the overwhelming Scriptural evidence that while Satan exercises a limited degree of influence, as permitted by God. Satan and his demons do not operate outside the decisive providence of God. Moreover, let us not forget Satan is a liar and has been from the beginning (John 8:44). Sadly, many in the church today continue to preach Satan’s lies that he is in charge of this world.
The Error of Thinking God Needs Man’s Permission to Act
We saw from Acts 17:28 that “[God] Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything”. This verse alone refutes the notion that ‘God cannot do anything on earth without man’s permission’ as utterly unscriptural. This misguided teaching reflects a profound misunderstanding of God’s sovereignty and an inflated view of human importance. The apostle James directly addresses this arrogance in his epistle, calling it evil:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16).
James sharply rebukes those who talk as if they control the future. He reminds us that God holds sway over tomorrow, we don’t. His Sovereign will determines our next breath. If our very existence hangs on God’s will, how arrogant of us even to suggest that God needs our permission to act on earth? He is still God without us; we are nothing without Him!
The prophet Daniel drives this point home with profound clarity in Daniel 4:35:
‘All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”’
Daniel’s verdict is, we are not impressive (we are counted as nothing!), God is. Repeatedly in Scripture, we see that God is intent on exposing the false claim that there are ‘powers’ in His creation that can stay His hand. In Isaiah 40:11, 15, 17, 22-23 and 28, we see that God’s condescension and exaltation go together. We better not take His condescension as weakness! Isaiah 14:27 declares, “The Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (see also Isa. 46:9-10; cf. Isa. 43:13 and Eph. 1:11).
Once Job came face to face with God’s present and Almighty power, he declared, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2). 2 Chronicles 20:6 affirms conclusively, “In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”
Response and practical implications
This doctrine calls us to savour the greatness and condescension of the God who created and sustains the entire universe yet knows us so intimately. It should give us great comfort to know that our loving Father holds the decisive sway over what happens in our lives and our world, not Satan.
This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious
heavenly Father, who watches over us with fatherly care, sustaining all creatures under his lordship6, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father7. In this thought we rest, knowing that God holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without divine permission and will. For that reason we reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God does not get involved in anything and leaves everything to chance. (The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 13, ‘The Doctrine of God’s Providence’)
Notes
- Jer 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24-28.
- Heb 1:3.
- Jer 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; Jn 9:3; Prov. 22:2.
- Prov 16:33.
- Mt 10:29.
- Matt. 8:31; Job 1:12; 2:6
- Matt. 10:29–30.
