God's Providence in Scripture

Tomorrow we will finish our series on the book of Philippians by discussing contentment. Key to contentment, as we will see, is God's providence. Scripture presents a high view of God's providence wherein He is in complete control over every aspect of our lives & of history. Below are some important passages of Scripture that defend this view:

Isaiah 37:26 - “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

Isaiah 22:11 - And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

Psalm 139:16 - Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

Job 14:5 - “Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

Isaiah 46:10-11 - Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; ¹¹ Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. 

Isaiah 14:24-27 - ²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, ²⁵ to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. ²⁶ This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. ²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Job 42:2 - “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

Jeremiah 23:20 - “The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it.

Zechariah 1:6 - ⁶ But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’”’”

Proverbs 16:4 - The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isaiah 40:12 - Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?

Jeremiah 10:12-13 - ¹² It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. ¹³ When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:21 - Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand. 

Luke 21:20-22 - ²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; ²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.

Matthew 26:24 - ²⁴ The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Matthew 1:22 - ²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

Acts 2:23 - this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Acts 4:27-28 -  ²⁷ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

Acts 1:16 - ¹⁶ “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:18 - ¹⁸ But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 

1 Corinthians 15:38 - ³⁸ But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 

Colossians 1:10 - ¹⁰ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Galatians 3:8 - ⁸ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”  

Galatians 1:15 - ¹⁵ But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 

Romans 9:20-23 - ²⁰ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? ²¹ Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? ²² What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? ²³ And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Ephesians 1:11-12 - ¹¹ also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹² to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Romans 8:28 - ²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

 

For more:

April 29, 2012 | Ruth 1:1-22 - Better or Bitter: When Providence Means Suffering
May 6, 2012 | Ruth 2:1-13 - And It Just So Happened ...: When God's Invisible Hand Becomes Visible 
May 20, 2012 | Ruth 2:14-23 - Grace in Abundance: That's Why Its So Amazing
May 27, 2012 | Ruth 3:1-9 - Resting in the Providence of God - Part 1

June 10, 2012 | Ruth 4:1-15 - When Providence and Grace Kiss  

GBC - Repost | "A Sweet & Bitter Providence" by John Piper
GBC - Tony Evans on God and Purpose
Sermon - September 19, 2010 - God is Provident
GBC - Calvin on Providence 
August 1, 2010 - Matthew 6:25-34 - Worry and the Providence of God:  What Our Anxiety Says About What We Believe About God
April 18, 2010 - Haggai 2:1-9 - And the Lord Said, "Get-r-Done"
August 30, 2009 - Psalm 23:6 - The Peace of the Shepherd's Providence 
Sermon - Esther 4 - God's Providence 
GBC - Providence and Prayer:  Carson Responds 

November 20, 2011 | Psalm 23:1 - The Peace of Contentment