Providential Afflictions

Providential Afflictions

By Breck Wheelock, April 7, 2020

Hello out there. My name is Breck Wheelock and I would like to warmly welcome you to today's podcast episode in which I will be discussing the doctrine of God's Providence, and we will be taking a particularly close look at providential afflictions. I think that this is a timely thing to study given that the entire globe right now is undergoing affliction with COVID-19. Why would God decree this global affliction? Why does God decree afflictions at all? How are we to respond to the afflictions that He has decreed for our own lives? These are the types of questions that we will consider in today's episode.

Let's begin our study of God's Providence by looking to the Heidelberg catechism. Question 27 of the Heidelberg catechism asks, “What do you understand by the Providence of God?” And the answer that it provides is as follows: “Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which He upholds as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us not by chance but from His Fatherly hand.

Following this, question 28 asks, “How does the knowledge of God's creation and Providence help us?” And again, the answer that it provides: “We can be patient when things go against us; we can be thankful when things go well; and for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved.”

The answer to that first question (question 27 of the Heidelberg catechism) provides a fairly extensive and comprehensive definition of Providence, and it's really quite excellent. And then, the answer that is given in question 28 is meant to answer how this doctrine of Providence can be helpful to us, and it provides three reasons. It says: (1) We can be patient when things go against us; (2) We can be thankful when things are going well; and (3) for the future, we can have confidence in our faithful God, knowing that nothing can ever ultimately separate us from His love.

Kevin DeYoung, in his book, The Good News We Almost Forgot, provides some commentary on these questions and answers that we just looked at in the Heidelberg catechism. I'd like to read, just briefly, some of the comments that he makes. DeYoung writes:

For many Christians, coming to grips with God's all-encompassing providence requires a massive shift in how they look at the world. It requires changing our vantage point from seeing the cosmos as a place where man rules and God responds, to beholding a universe where God creates and constantly controls with sovereign love and providential power. We can look at providence through the lens of human autonomy and our idolatrous notions of freedom, and see a mean God moving tsunamis and Kings like chess pieces in some kind of perverse divine playtime. Or we can look at providence through the lens of scripture, and we can see a loving God counting the hairs on our heads and directing the sparrows in the sky so that we might live life unafraid. “What else can we wish for ourselves,” Calvin wrote, “if not even one hair can fall from our head without God's will?”

There are no accidents in your life. Every economic downturn, every phone call in the middle of the night, every oncology report, has been sent to us from the God who sees all things, decrees all things, and loves us more than we know. Whether it means the end of suffering or the extension of our suffering, God in His providence is for us and never against us.

Providence is for our comfort. (1) Provide