Jehovah-jireh, God will Provide - Part 1

Romans 8:28-39 We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined o be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Learn something new everyday”, they say, and take every opportunity available to learn more about the Lord, our God. The other day I heard a great study on the passage above, where the Apostle Paul begins, not by saying “I hope” or “I think”, but “I know” in total assurance and confidence that all things work for good because of the benevolent, Divine Providence of the sovereign government of God. Today’s secular worldview is that everything that happens is a result of fixed natural causes. Some believe that, if there a God above, He is just a spectator but has no immediate control over what happens here. But the Christian church knows that this is our Father’s world and that the affairs of men and nations are in His hand. That this sovereign God is working out a Divine purpose on this world and in our lives. The response of the God rejecting world system is to say: “ I don’t want to hear that.” But the old church slogan “Deus Pro Nobis” always stands true – “God with us”. This is what Providence is all about. God is for His people. What shall we say to these things? “If God is for us, who can be against us?”, and “Who can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?”  

All the points of pain (mentally and physically), no matter how intense they are, do not have the power to break or sever the relationship that we have to our loving, kindly, sovereign Providence. Providence comes from the root word “videre”, which means “to see” (where we get our English word “video” and the word “pro”, which means “before hand”, together forming “to see before hand”/provision. To know in advance what essentials for life are needed. Trust God, who is providential to provide and meet those needs according to his purpose. Jehovah-jireh, God will provide. God makes provision to meet our needs, including the ultimate provision that God made, by virtue of His Divine sovereignty, mercy and grace, of the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behave. Providence covers the sustenance of creation also. The Hebrew word for “create” is “barah”, which means “what God creates and brings into being, He sustains, provides for and preserves.” Not only are we dependent upon God for our origin, but totally dependent upon God for our moment by moment, breath by breath existence. 

Continued tomorrow