"He cares for me: Stories of God’s providence" by Gregory CroffordThe old saying rings true: "For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation will suffice."
Nowhere is this more apparent than when discussing God's providence. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines "providence" as the "foresight and care which God manifests for his creatures." This post will convince no skeptics, but for people of faith, you may find yourself nodding your head in agreement.
On September 11, 2001, 2,763 individuals of various nationalities died when the Twin Towers collapsed following being struck by two commercial airlines commandeered by terrorists. Many have told stories of how they should have been there or on one of the commandeered planes, but for one reason or another, their plans changed that day. These included Patti Austin, who would have been on United Airlines 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, fought over by heroic passengers who stormed the cockpit. Instead, Austin had changed her flight to a day earlier when she learned of her mother's stroke. Champion Australian swimmer, Ian Thorpe, was on his way to the observation deck of the World Trade Center when he realized he'd forgotten his camera. He took a cab back to his hotel to retrieve it, then turned on the TV to see the horrific news of the first jetturned on the TV to see the horrific news of the first jet slamming into the North Tower.I don't want to get bogged down in the intricacies of the Open Theism debate, of whether and in what sense God knows the future. (For those who are interested, a good place to start is Gregory Boyd's God of the Possible). In most instances of God's providence, it's enough to believe that God has a comprehensive knowledge of the present, and an ability to see the trajectory of events. Even this knowledge is more than sufficient for our loving God to act in favor of human beings.
If we were to know every instance in which God acted to avert tragedy in our lives, we would fall immediately to our knees in gratitude. When it comes to divine providence, God's intervention resembles the iceberg, where only a fraction is visible and the rest is hidden below the waterline. But that tip of the iceberg - the providences that we know about - is impressive enough.
Often when people ask how they can pray for our missionary work, we've responded by asking for protection during travel. Not surprisingly, both of my stories of God's providence have to do with traveling in a vehicle.
Our first home assignment was in early 1997. We'd left Kansas City and were making good progress on a three day trip to Seattle. Pulling into Nampa, Idaho - where we planned to spend the night - I noticed that the car's left rear tire was mostly deflated, so I pumped it up again and fueled the car for the next day. Coming out of the hotel the next morning, I was frustrated to see that the tire was deflated again. The bright side was that the crew at the Chevron station was efficient. They found a nail in the tire, patched it up, and in 45 minutes we were back on the road.
A few hours later, driving the south-north highway through eastern Oregon, conditions grew treacherous from a snowy winter whiteout. Authorities closed the highway, and we took shelter from the storm in a small diner. When the waitress came to take our order, we asked what was going on. "They closed the highway because of a pile-up," she confided. Around 21 cars and trucks were involved, victims of the poor visibility and slippery roads. Upon further questioning, we discovered that the accident had occurred less than an hour ago. Suddenly, my nail in the left rear tire didn't look like a curse; instead, it looked like a Godsend.
Some years later, in 2002, we were on vacation in northern Togo. It's a hilly part of the country, with steep grades in the road and treacherous drop-offs. While there are guardrails, they wouldn't stand up to the rapid descent of an out-of-control truck or car. As we navigated yet another sharp turn coming down a mountain, I commented to my wife and sons:This is one place you really wouldn't want to lose your brakes.
A few minutes later, now on a straight-away, I tapped my brakes and was suprised when the pedal went to the floor! Gearing down, I managed to roll to a stop, then got out to see what was happening. The Toyota Forerunner's brake line was ruptured, and the last of the brake fluid was bleeding out on the ground. It turns out (unbeknownst to us) that we had just completed the last of the sharp downhill curves. If my brakes had gone out 5 minutes earlier, who knows what sadder outcome might have been?
Jesus taught about God's care for his creation. God clothes the grass of the field (Matthew 6:30) and knows when a sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29), so how much more does God care for us? The Lord even speaks of angels who watch over children (Matthew 18:10) and an angel of the Lord freed Peter from the jail where he awaited likely execution (Acts 12:6-19). These are just a few examples from Scripture of God's loving care for his own, of his provision and protection.
One song that speaks eloquently of God's care is Jimmy Owens' "He Cares for Me." The chorus reminds us:
His power is great and will ever endure.
His wisdom is peacable, gentle and pure.
But greater than all these glories I see
Is the glorious promise, that He cares for me!
Watch Daniel Choo sing a guitar cover of this song by clicking here.What stories would you like to share of God's care for you? Add them in the comment section.
Image credits
World Trade Center: By Sander Lamme (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Tire: By Md.Mijanur rahman Mijan (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Gregory Crofford
Sunday, February 25, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment