God’s Power, Knowledge and Wisdom (divine providence)

As we look at the world around us there is so much going on. Wars in various places; political instability; people being born; others dying; some are getting married while others are fleeing from responsibility; the church meets in the same areas as pubs and brothels; there are natural disasters all over the place; nations trying to land spacecraft on the moon; others are trying to predict the level of the sea in 50 years’ time; some are literally trying to ‘save the world’ through recycling; some people are activists, while others are pacifists; there are religious fundamentalists of all kinds thinking they doing the work of God; and we could go on. The point is, the world is crazy. People are crazy. Crazy people are running the world’s most powerful institutions, and those institutions have the power to blow up the planet. Knowing all this, how does anyone sleep at night?

The question, ‘who is in control here?’ is a great one. On a surface level, we know who the ‘power players’ are. Look at the largest economies in the world and see who’s leading them. Look at the largest companies in the world and see who’s running them. In the world we live in, power, wisdom and knowledge are highly sought after, because if we can get them, we have a better chance of getting what we want, and far too often, that’s more of this world.

But as we consider life in this crazy world from God’s perspective in light of the attributes that we’ve considered so far, we have to be willing to confess that if God is who he claims to be, then we really don’t have to worry all that much at all. Sure, the world is spinning while it thrashes through the universe at over 1000 km/h, suspended by nothing. Sure, we could all die at any point by any number of unseen viruses that can attack any one of our major organs. And sure, our neighbours are godless and crazy and have the capacity to kill us with very little trouble. But if God is the incomprehensible, self-existing, self-sustaining, eternal, unchanging, unaffected, infinite God who is present in the fullness of his undivided being at all times and in all places, working through all things for our good, then I can see why we’re able to sleep at night. And not only to sleep, but also to rest secure as we enjoy the world that he’s made for our good, and as a revelation of his glory.

As we consider ‘who’s in control around here’, in light of who God is, the answer has got to be, God. It’s true that there are kings and presidents out there in the world, but God is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15). Sure, there are some pretty powerful families in the world, but every single one of them derives their name from our Father who is in heaven (Ephesians 3:15). Since God is ‘a most pure spirit’, he cannot be seen by the human eye, but be sure of this: he is the One who’s in control around here. And one day, every eye will see it.

Theologians call God’s absolute rule over all that takes place in the world, Providence. God’s Providence describes how God rules as ‘Lord’. This ‘Lordship’ through ‘Providence’ is at work in all places at all times. God’s providence extends to big things such as the orbit of planets (Isaiah 40:26) and the rise and fall of nations (Job 12:23), and it also extends to seemingly insignificant things like a sparrow falling to the ground (Matthew 10:29). It extends to both good and evil, though God does not condone evil or promote it (Genesis 50:20). Even as the Apostles reflected on the murder of the Messiah, they prayed to God, saying, 

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen (Acts 4:27–28).

And it’s in this example that we understand something central about God’s providence. He is the sovereign Lord of all, because he is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-wise. 

Under normal circumstances a person with unlimited power is frightening! Since power that is not bound together perfectly with an equal measure of mercy is the recipe for tyranny. But since God’s power cannot be divided from his holiness, his goodness, his justice, his grace and his love, an all-powerful God is good news for fragile people (and a world that’s constantly spinning!)

God’s knowledge also informs his providence since only a being who knows all things can perfectly rule all things. Unlike us, God doesn’t have to think in order to know; since his knowledge is perfect he already knows all things. In fact, everything that is, is what it is because of his foreknowledge. As one author has said, ‘God does not know things because he observes them, he observes what he already knows and has decreed eternally.’ 

And God’s knowledge and power come together with his wisdom to enact his providence, which is why our salvation is spoken of as having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11). This doesn’t undermine human responsibility, but it teaches us that God’s purposes will be accomplished despite the will of man. Those purposes are good because they’re perfectly informed by his united, infinite and eternally loving nature, and the only reasonable response to this is to trust and obey, with joy and in hope.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take,

     The clouds you so much dread,

Are big with mercy, and shall break

     In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

     But trust him for his grace;

Behind a frowning providence,

     He hides a smiling face.

William Cowper (1731–1800) ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way’