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What in the world has God done?

Is it possible that there is a God who is involved in human affairs? Not everyone believes in such things.

Is it possible that there is a God who is involved in human affairs? 

Not everyone believes in such things. There are those who claim we have outgrown the need of the concept of a God and should shed the notion and accept the idea that all that exists is the physical and material (secular materialism). 

For instance, Carl Sagan stated in the Cosmos TV series in 1980 – the old version – that the cosmos is all there is, all there was and ever will be.

The Bible presents us with a personal and reasonable God who has been involved in events and human decisions that can only be described as providential.

Joseph

Joseph, son of Jacob, was sold by his envious brothers into slavery in Egypt. Over time he rose to a position in Egypt next to the Pharaoh himself. 

Because of famine Joseph’s father, his brothers and families were settled in Egypt. 

Following the death of Jacob, the brothers were fearful that Joseph would take vengeance on them for the evil they had done to him. 

Joseph had a genuine view of God’s providence in this matter. He had no desire for revenge and told them: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about the saving of many people.” (Genesis chapter 50, verse 20) 

Esther

Esther was queen in the great Persian Empire of King Xerxes (485-464 BC) when her people, the Jewish people, were threatened with annihilation. 

Haman, a man of influence, persuaded the king to issue a decree that gave people throughout the kingdom to kill and destroy all Jews. 

Esther was challenged by her cousin Mordecai to approach the king and plead for her people. It was very dangerous for anyone to enter the court without being summoned by the king. To do so could result in execution unless the king held out his royal scepter. Would Esther take the risk? 

Mordecai sent her a message that is recorded for all time in the Book of Esther, chapter 4, verse14: “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Underlying this statement is a belief in the providence of God in that He brought Esther to such a prominent position at just the right time to save the Jewish people from genocide. Esther did intercede for her people and they were saved from annihilation.

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill apparently had a conviction that he was called to fulfil his duty in the providence of God when he became prime minister of England in the dark days of
May 1940. 

Many Britons did not care for him. He was scorned as being unscrupulous, crudely ambitious, a warmonger, and an irritating gadfly and widely distrusted.  

Yet he was able to win over a demoralized war cabinet and rallied the British people in the face of what seemed an invincible German war machine. 

In a speech Churchill said: “The lights are going out all over Europe” – as one country after another fell.  (Vera Lynne, the sweet voice of encouragement and hope to the British nation, sang, “When the Lights Come on Again All over the World.”)

One of the great events of the war took place at Dunkirk. The British and French troops were routed and needed to be evacuated from France. Ships and private boats of every description were dispatched from England to cross the channel to rescue the soldiers. 

What would prevent German planes from attacking the fleet? A fog! Who was it that sent the fog to protect the great armada of boats? God in His providence sent it at just the right time to save many lives. About 340,000 soldiers were transported to safety.

Divine providence

My brother-in-law was seriously injured while hiking with his wife in a conservation area near Ajax, ON. He was rushed to the hospital for examination. In the process it was discovered he had colon cancer. It had not advanced to be fatal, and with surgery and subsequent chemotherapy he regained
good health. 

In retrospect we agreed that if he had not the hiking injury the cancer could have advanced without detection and perhaps been fatal. I suggested this was an instance of Divine providence and he agreed.

God is not a far off but is very much involved in our human lives.

Lorne Moorhead is a retired pastor living in Flin Flon 

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