God’s Providential Control:

From L Berkhof, Systematic Theology quoted in New Geneva Study Bible

1. over the universe at large

• Ps 103:19        The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
• Dan 4:35         All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.  No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?”
• Eph 1:11         In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will

2.         over the physical world

• Job 37 
• Ps 104:14        He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth
• Ps 135:6          Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.
• Matt 5:45        … for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust

3. over the brute creation

· Ps 104:21, 28  The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God…What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good.

· Matt 6:26        Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

· Matt 10:29      Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

4. over the affairs of nations

• Job 12:23        He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.
• Ps 22:28          For the kingdom is the LORD’s and He rules over the nations.
• Ps 66:7            He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations;  do not let the rebellious exalt themselves.  Selah
• Acts 17:26      And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

5. over man’s birth and lot in life

• 1 Sam 16:        Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”
• Ps 139:16        Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
• Is 45:5             I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.  I will gird you, though you have not known Me
• Gal 1:15, 16    But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,

6. over the outward successes and failures of men’s lives

• Ps 75:6, 7        For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south.   But God is the Judge:  He puts down one, and exalts another.
• Luke 1:52       He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.

7. over things seemingly incidental or insignificant

• Pr 16:33          The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
• Matt 10:30      But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

8. in the protection of the righteous

• Ps 4:8              I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
• Ps 5:12            For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.
• Ps 63:8            My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.
• Ps 121:3          He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
• Rom 8:28        And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

9. in supplying the wants of God’s people

• Gen 22:8, 14   And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together… And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide;^[a] as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
• Deut 8:3         So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
• Phil 4:19         And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

10. in giving answers to prayer

• 1 Sam 1:19      Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
• Is 20:5, 6         Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. ⁶ And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’”
• 2 Chr 33:13     …and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
• Ps 65:2            O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh will come.
• Matt 7:7          “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
• Luke 18:7, 8   And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? ⁸ I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

11. in the exposure and punishment of the wicked

• Ps 7:12, 13      If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.  He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
• Ps 11:6            Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

Reminder:  when our lives feel chaotic or out of control, is not this holy God in control?  Do we go to Him in prayer and eagerly await His answer?  Do we trust Him to work out His perfect plan which is specific to our lives?  Consider God’s providence in the verses above when you are feeling overwhelmed or in need of encouragement.