"Man's goings are of the LORD;
how can a man then understand his own way?"
(Proverbs 20: 24)
I do not comprehend the way of God's providence, nor how to always interpret my experiences in the light of God's sovereign control of them. I wrote on this awhile back under the heading - "My Own Failures at Interpretation" (here). In it I dealt with a similar verse to Proverbs 20: 24, though from the same author (Solomon), which says - "Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing?" (Eccl. 8:1)
Every mature person has times in his or her life when the question is asked to self - "why is this happening?" Or, "God, why are you allowing this to happen?" Or, "God, I just don't see any purpose to why you are suffering me to experience this (or that)." Or, "what good does God intend to bring out of this adversity?" Or, "What is God doing?" (Certainly Job asked himself that question!)
Troubles, adversities, calamities, evils, etc., do not occur for no reason. For every effect there has to be a cause. Job said that man, fallen man, is "born unto trouble."
"Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, As the sparks fly upward." (Job 5: 6-7)
We receive both good and bad from the hand of God, Job also testified. (Job 2: 10) Also, the apostle Paul writes: "no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto." (I Thess. 3: 3)
Further, as Christians, we are to believe that "all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8: 28) This is impossible to believe without God's grace and his mighty internal work in the heart, the understanding, and in the will.
Another difficult thing to do is to do as James, the Lord's brother, advised when he said:
"Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (1: 2-3 NASB)
Let me tell you brethren, God sometimes ask of us the impossible. To expect believers to get happy when they find out they have cancer, or have lost a child, etc., is to ask the impossible. In light of this verse, I am expected to say thank you Lord for afflictions? If I smash my finger with a hammer, am I supposed to shout "thank you for that Lord"? Jesus spoke similarly when he said:
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Matt. 5: 11-12)
Paul and Silas did this very thing when they were in the horrible dungeon. (Acts 16: 25) But, it seems impossible, or so very hard. No doubt it takes God's blessing, grace, and power to do so. Most of us, even as God's children, rather murmur and complain than to rejoice in our afflictions.
James, later in his epistle, says: "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." (5: 13) That seems to recognize how afflictions make us sad. He does not say be merry when bad things happen as he seems to do in chapter one. You sing when you are happy and pray when you are unhappy and in adversity. Yet, we still have God saying "be happy when bad things happen and here is why."
Fortune vs. Providence
"Fortuna (Latin: Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Sabine and Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at least the Renaissance." (See source here)
We believe, as Christians, in God's providence rather than in blind luck or "fortune" as did the Greeks, Romans, and other polytheists.
However, Roman Catholic apologist Thomas Aquinas (1269-1273) in Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III, cc. Chapter 74: "Divine Providence does not Exclude Fortune and Chance," said:
"But it would be contrary to the essential character of divine providence if all things occurred by necessity, as we showed [See ch. 72]. Therefore, it would also be contrary to the character of divine providence if nothing were to be fortuitous and a matter of chance in things."
Of course, I disagree with this as a believer in God's providence and sovereignty over all things. He also wrote:
"Now, due to the fact that an agent fails in regard to an end that is intended, it follows that some things occur by chance. So, it would be contrary to the meaning of providence, and to the perfection of things, if there were no chance events."
Again, I do not agree. He also wrote:
"Hence it is said: "I saw that the race is not to the swift . . . but time and chance in all" (Ecclus. 9:11; Douay modified), that is, among things here below."
So, what did Solomon mean when he said "time and chance happens to them all"?
I think that Solomon is speaking of the way things look on the surface, on the way things seem to be, rather than on the way they actually are. Wrote Dr. Gill on this verse in his commentary:
"everything befalls them just as it is ordered by divine Providence; for there is a certain "time" fixed by the Lord for every event; and whatever seems casual and contingent to man, and which he is ready to call "chance", is noticing but "decree" with God, firm and unalterable; Plato has the same expression. The word signifies "occurrence", or event, which is under the wise direction and order of the providence of God, with respect to whom nothing comes by chance; and it is rendered "occurrent", ( 1 Kings 5:4 ) ; and so it is here, by the Septuagint version, "occurrence" or "event"..."
Such verses as the following show that what men think is chance or accident are not really what they seem to be.
"The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD." (Prov. 16: 33)
Charles Spurgeon said (as cited here):
"Blessed is that man who is done with chance, who never speaks of luck, but believes that from the least, even to the greatest—all things are ordained by the Lord. We dare not leave out the least event! The creeping of an aphid upon a rosebud is as surely arranged by the decree of Providence, as the march of a pestilence through a nation! Believe this, for if the least thing is omitted from the supreme government—so may the next be, and the next, until nothing is left in the divine hands."
J.C. Ryle also said:
"There is no such thing as chance, luck or accident in the Christian journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are working together for the believer's good!" (Ibid)
Providence vs. Fatalism
Providence and Predestination are not fatalism. Fate is blind, providence has eyes. Providence confesses that God works all things after the counsel of his will. (Eph. 1: 11)
All this makes me think of that famous hymn "God moves in a mysterious way" and some of the verses in it.
And ye fearful saints, fresh courage takeThe clouds you so much dreadAre big with mercy and shall breakIn blessings, yeah, in blessings
Judge not the Lord by feeble senseBut trust Him for His graceBehind a frowning providenceHe hides a smiling face
His purposes will ripen fastUnfolding every hourThe bud may have a bitter tasteBut sweet will be the flower
Blind unbelief is sure to errAnd scan His work in vainFor God is His own interpreterAnd He will make it plain
In His own time
In His own way
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