“Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 6:23).
The wonderful doctrine of God’s providence permeates Scripture and nature. Jehovah’s grace and providence brought humanity salvation in Christ and the essential, all-sufficient revelation of instruction about it. The great temple of Christ in which is found the treasury of every spiritual blessing is no happenstance. The eternal kingdom is history’s greatest, enduring monument to God’s sovereignty and providence.
Even though God’s providence is best discerned in retrospect, the truth of its existence and active presence in the lives of those who love God, the called according to His purpose, ought to comfort a troubled heart and guard it with peace.
Enjoying such comfort and peace from deity necessitates love with faith from humanity. As the apostle Paul faced circumstances which had seemed to take him completely off the evangelistic course he wanted to be on—death plots, political and legal shenanigans, corrupt and weak governmental rulers, shipwreck—his love with faith were tested, but they persevered.
It is hard to see “the big picture” when you are inside the frame. It is hard to see the divine tapestry of God’s providence when you are looking at it from earth’s viewpoint (the underside) and not heaven’s (the top side). Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and trusting Him and His power to work all things together for good is the only wise and appropriate response in trying circumstances.
If God and His providence be for you, who can successfully oppose you?
