The Way: Part 4

The more 23 read, the more w see God providing answers to our questions about His ways. Divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. The doctrine of divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. Keep that in mind as we take a closer look.

Look at Deuteronomy 8:2:

Remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you … that he might humble you. (emphasis added)

Because God’s wisdom is infinite and His ways incomprehensible to us, we should be very careful in seeking to interpret the ways of God in His providence, especially in particular events.

Additionally, we need to be cautious of others who offer themselves as interpreters about the why and wherefore of all that is happening in our lives, in the church, and even across the globe.

Be wary of those who say, “God let this happen so you could learn such and such a lesson.” The fact is, we don’t know what God is doing through a particular set of circumstances or events. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek to learn from God’s ways as well as His revealed will in Scripture. Quite the contrary.

The Psalmist learned God’s decrees as he experienced affliction: "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes" (Psalm 119:71).

The people of Israel also learned through God’s adverse providence in their lives:

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." Deuteronomy 8:3 (emphasis added)

God taught the nation His ways through His divine providence—through putting them in a situation where they could not simply go to the cupboard for their daily bread—that they were utterly dependent upon Him. God was leading the nation into a land where material provision would be “naturally” plentiful.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper." (Deuteronomy 8:7-9)

He knew they would be tempted by the pride of their own hearts to say, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (verse 17).

So before they entered the land, God taught them about their dependence on His divine providence ... He taught them His ways.

The truth is, His ways are higher than ours. Isaiah 58:8-9 is about as plain as can be:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Our logic and limited understanding can easily mislead us. Trusting in The Way reminds us that God is in complete control of all things – even those things that make no sense to us, and those things we think we have figured out but end up leading us into a mess.

Trust in The Way – His ways are perfect!