Seeing and Delighting in the Hand of Providence

One of my favorite Charles Spurgeon quotes:

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—

that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—

that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses.

The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—

the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

The biblical evidence strongly confirms this.

At the same time, we remember what the Puritan John Flavel so wisely observe: "Some providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backward."

Phil Johnson shares a story that reminds of us both truths. It's an entertaining story, but with some important lessons about how we respond when life doesn't go the way it should (with also a lesson about how to treat people who are working to serve us). The upshot?

All the trials we go through would be a whole lot easier to endure if we had more trust in the workings of Providence. If we would just bear in mind that God is fully in control of everything that happens to us—both "good" and "bad"—we would be far less frustrated, and far more confident that He is in charge, working all things (including the "bad" and merely inconvenient things) together for ultimate good.