The Invisible Hand of God

We are doing a book by R. C. Sproul in our couple's small group that, by chapter 2, has already stretched my "picture" and "definition" of God. Last week it was the story of David and Bathsheba's first child, born from an affair. God told David that He would strike the child with an illness and the child would not make it, he would die. David prayed, fasted, and prostrated himself before God while his child suffered. When the child died, he got up and the first thing he did was go and worshiped God. (2 Samuel 12) Sproul mentioned the preachers (and well meaning Christ followers)who tell us that God would never harm anyone tend to forget about the invisible hand of God and His Providence. Hmmmmm...S T R E T C H.....God's providence...

This week he added to the definition of God's Providence. In the chapter he talked about Aristotle's god who was compared to the clock maker. The clock maker would spend time to create a beautiful masterpiece, then step back and allow it to do what he created it to do...tell time.

God is not like the clock maker. He is intimately involved in ever aspect of our lives. He created our world so that it would benefit us. In fact Sproul states that God micromanages every aspect of His creation.

When I was reading this to Steve,while we were traveling to Oak Harbor, we had just passed over Deception Pass Bridge. The power and majesty of the sight there is awesome to behold and we talked again about the creation of God.

God created the trees to give off oxygen and use carbon dioxide. The colors that He created are breathtaking. Why would he have to make so many different things in creation? Think of the varieties of trees. The multitude of evergreens, the variety of trees that lose their leaves, and then the tree that fascinates me, the Madrona tree that looses it's bark and not it's leaves. Not only are these things in creation amazing, they are beautiful and pleasing to the eye. It is spring here and the flowers are plentiful. This morning Carol and I are going to Mount Vernon to take in the Tulip Festival and what we will see boggles the mind. Acres of beautiful tulips in a multitude of color and shapes! Why did He have to do this? Our world that He created is not boring, nor should it be taken for granted. I know that there are times when I seem so caught up in His creation but I just marvel at His handiwork.

Sproul had some dire warnings and statements that caused the blood in my veins to run cold. One of the things he said is: "The culture in which we presently live has little room for the thoughts of God's providence. At best we live in a modern climate of neo-deism; at worst, the culture is defined by a climate of neo-paganism."

In that same section he writes: "In the 18th century Adam Smith wrote his classic work The Wealth of Nations in which he sought to apply the scientific method of the vagaries of economic enterprise and discover the laws that govern economics. Smith was searching for the "invisible hand" of Providence. In our time the "invisible hand" is not merely deemed invisible, but non-existent. The hand of Providence has been chopped off altogether, and with the amputation we are left to grope alone in a hostile, or even worse, an indifferent universe. We look no more to the invisible hand of Providence for our economic well-being but to the highly visible hand of human government to solve these questions."

It is because of these statements that I feel a need to call attention again and again to the awesome power and majesty of our God, Creator and Sustainer of our world. It is He who can provide for us as He does the birds of the air, the flowers in the field, (and the cats in our neighborhood.) He is the One who can meet your (our) every need no matter what it is, whether financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual. He is the One who loves you beyond measure and will care for you beyond belief. He longs to be our answer. In this culture and in this time, He is the one that we need to reach out to...That is why nature and all that He created is a loving and dramatic reminder of just who my God is...

Rejoice in what you see today...come before Him in praise....Marvel at His glorious works.