The Father knows that those reborn will never displease Him, because He’s always causing them to “please” Him (Phl 2:13). They will continually trust God to work all together for their “good” (Ro 8:28), and never require His providence for faith, though it will always be present! They are to put faith in Him alone and not anything else—not even His providence! -NC
There is a much too prevalent habit which some Christians would even attempt to justify looking to providences; in other words, walking by sight rather than faith. It is a comparatively easy thing to act as circumstances seem to prompt, and if these circumstances become a supposed divine rule of action to me, this is precisely to abandon the march of faith for providences.
Alas! Into how many ditches will this blind guide lead the unwary, or the unfaithful Christian? Even the wretched unbelieving world likes to talk of “Providence” in the abstract. It demands no faith; nay, it is a shutting outside of a present acting Father, Who condescends to lead His children with His eye; of a Father Whom we have known in the Lord Jesus Who has brought out Himself nigh to us and us nigh to Himself. They prefer to have an abstraction of their minds to discuss, rather than to be brought so close to the living God. “Providence” is a familiar and palatable word, where “God manifested in the flesh” would sound strange and unwelcome!
So, practically, it needs little spirituality to see the hand of God in circumstances; but it requires much reliance upon the Holy Spirit to understand their bearing, and to discern the path of the Lord Jesus in their midst. What is unseen, not what is seen, ought alone to guide the faithful. Hence the necessity of an undivided heart, of a single eye. Only thus is the body full of light. If the circumstances fill my eye, instead of the Lord Jesus in glory, I am sure to go astray. It is not that one would deny the providential dealings of God, or that a Christian can overlook them without loss.
What is affirmed is, that no circumstances can rightly be the guide for Christian action, and that all circumstances ought to be judged in the light of the perfect word of God. Nay, I believe that while the Father, on the other hand, frequently overrules circumstances in default of our faith, on the other hand He often orders circumstances so as to be a test of fidelity or of its absence. In other words, a Christian may find himself in a position not of his own seeking, but of the Father’s superintendents, which nevertheless faith has to relinquish, and not to abide in, though divine providence may have placed him there.
Of this the scriptural history of Moses furnishes a striking example. I do not speak now of the faith which marked the parents of Moses, for faith it was, and not parental affection merely, which led them for three months to hide their child; “they were not afraid of the king’s commandment” (Heb 11:23). Nor do I allude to the over ruling hand of God, Who met their faith, and so arranged events as to accomplish His future purposes respecting Moses and His people. It is the conduct of Moses himself, which is so full of instruction to the man of God who would learn the true place of faith in relation to providential circumstances.
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb 11:24-26).
Now, here we learn that as surely as providence carried him into the house of Pharaoh, faith led him out. Never was a providential dealing more strongly imprinted with the finger of God than the one before us. In spite of the royal ordinance.
Pharaoh’s daughter took up the outcast Moses and nourished him for her own son. The Providence of God had placed him in an illustrious position, unsought, unexpected. Educated too as became it, he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.”
Why not use his ability and wisdom—why not use the influence which his exalted rank gave him, and his nearness to the most princely personages in the realm—Why not wisely and thankfully turn such evident gifts of Providence to the service of God’s enslaved people? What a blessing it would be to see Pharaoh the tyrant transformed into pharaoh the patron of Israel! What enterprise more worthy of one who, without a wish or effort of his own, had been so strangely brought into the circle of the throne of this world?
What return would he make to that august person who had lavished such kindness upon him? For what end had God wrought so wonderfully, if not that Moses should employ Egypt’s scepter for the emancipation and advancement for God’s people? But no! Faith at once disposes of all such reasoning’s founded on providences. “By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” The simple question to him was, will it please God? Where are God’s affections? Are they not with His people?
The people may be suffering, wretched, and discreditable, they may little understand and ill requite the love and faith that would renounce all on their behalf. They might greatly prefer the personage of the son of the Pharaohs daughter to self-sacrificing Moses, who refused such a place and position, choosing rather to suffer with them; but it was enough for Moses that the poor captives were God’s people. It was not enough that his heart was with them and himself far away in the splendid court of Egypt. His single eye judged all that pharaoh’s daughter could offer to be the pleasure of sin. He deliberately resigned the glittering honors and the worldly influence which providence had strewn around him, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
With whom was God identified? With pharaoh’s palace, or with Israel in the iron furnace? Had he followed providence’s he would have sought to succor and relieve, and perhaps ultimately to deliver Israel, through the advantages which his position furnished: but it was faith which led him to estrange himself from the world and identify himself with the people of God. The world hates God’s people, and may be permitted to enslave them, but can the world bless God’s people? Moses would have shrunk, as a man of faith, from the thought of yielding to the world such a place. It would be to assert that the world is greater, for, beyond all question, the less is blessed of the greater.
Therefore it was that Moses gives up all, and rests only upon God. His desire was not to save himself loss, suffering reproach: he chose it rather, because God was there; and Moses desired to be where God was, and with those whom God loved. How the acting’s of his faith only reflected the feelings of God for his people may be gathered by reading Exodus 3:7-9.
Thus, we see that providence may place us in a position which God would have us not use but shun. It may seem the most fair occasion possible in outward things; but faith judges the contrary, because faith looks not to our honor but to the Fathers; not to our ease, but to His deliverance of His people. Faith rests on the promise of God to his people: and has respect to the recompense of the reward.
— William Kelly (1821-1906)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for May 19
In order for us to pray according to His will, we must first know His will; not only that, but His blessed will must become our will. “If ye abide in Me . . . ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). Prayer is the fellowship of an intimate, living union; as with all of the Christian life, it must be carried on in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He is known as “the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zech. 12:10).
“If I ask anything of God, and have received His answer, I then act with assurance, with the conviction that I am in the path of His will; I am happy and contented. If I meet with some difficulty, this does not stop me; it is only an obstacle which faith has to surmount.
“But if I have not this certainty before I begin, I am in indecision, I know not what to do. There may be a trial of my faith, or it may be that I ought not to do what I am doing. I am in suspense, and I hesitate; even if I am doing the will of God, I am not sure about it, and I am not happy. I ought therefore to be assured that I am doing His will before I begin to act.” -John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)
Providence versus Faith
There is a much too prevalent habit which some Christians would even attempt to justify looking to providences; in other words, walking by sight rather than faith. It is a comparatively easy thing to act as circumstances seem to prompt, and if these circumstances become a supposed divine rule of action to me, this is precisely to abandon the march of faith for providences.
Alas! Into how many ditches will this blind guide lead the unwary, or the unfaithful Christian? Even the wretched unbelieving world likes to talk of “Providence” in the abstract. It demands no faith; nay, it is a shutting outside of a present acting Father, Who condescends to lead His children with His eye; of a Father Whom we have known in the Lord Jesus Who has brought out Himself nigh to us and us nigh to Himself. They prefer to have an abstraction of their minds to discuss, rather than to be brought so close to the living God. “Providence” is a familiar and palatable word, where “God manifested in the flesh” would sound strange and unwelcome!
So, practically, it needs little spirituality to see the hand of God in circumstances; but it requires much reliance upon the Holy Spirit to understand their bearing, and to discern the path of the Lord Jesus in their midst. What is unseen, not what is seen, ought alone to guide the faithful. Hence the necessity of an undivided heart, of a single eye. Only thus is the body full of light. If the circumstances fill my eye, instead of the Lord Jesus in glory, I am sure to go astray. It is not that one would deny the providential dealings of God, or that a Christian can overlook them without loss.
What is affirmed is, that no circumstances can rightly be the guide for Christian action, and that all circumstances ought to be judged in the light of the perfect word of God. Nay, I believe that while the Father, on the other hand, frequently overrules circumstances in default of our faith, on the other hand He often orders circumstances so as to be a test of fidelity or of its absence. In other words, a Christian may find himself in a position not of his own seeking, but of the Father’s superintendents, which nevertheless faith has to relinquish, and not to abide in, though divine providence may have placed him there.
Of this the scriptural history of Moses furnishes a striking example. I do not speak now of the faith which marked the parents of Moses, for faith it was, and not parental affection merely, which led them for three months to hide their child; “they were not afraid of the king’s commandment” (Heb 11:23). Nor do I allude to the over ruling hand of God, Who met their faith, and so arranged events as to accomplish His future purposes respecting Moses and His people. It is the conduct of Moses himself, which is so full of instruction to the man of God who would learn the true place of faith in relation to providential circumstances.
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb 11:24-26).
Now, here we learn that as surely as providence carried him into the house of Pharaoh, faith led him out. Never was a providential dealing more strongly imprinted with the finger of God than the one before us. In spite of the royal ordinance.
Pharaoh’s daughter took up the outcast Moses and nourished him for her own son. The Providence of God had placed him in an illustrious position, unsought, unexpected. Educated too as became it, he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.”
Why not use his ability and wisdom—why not use the influence which his exalted rank gave him, and his nearness to the most princely personages in the realm—Why not wisely and thankfully turn such evident gifts of Providence to the service of God’s enslaved people? What a blessing it would be to see Pharaoh the tyrant transformed into pharaoh the patron of Israel! What enterprise more worthy of one who, without a wish or effort of his own, had been so strangely brought into the circle of the throne of this world?
What return would he make to that august person who had lavished such kindness upon him? For what end had God wrought so wonderfully, if not that Moses should employ Egypt’s scepter for the emancipation and advancement for God’s people? But no! Faith at once disposes of all such reasoning’s founded on providences. “By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” The simple question to him was, will it please God? Where are God’s affections? Are they not with His people?
The people may be suffering, wretched, and discreditable, they may little understand and ill requite the love and faith that would renounce all on their behalf. They might greatly prefer the personage of the son of the Pharaohs daughter to self-sacrificing Moses, who refused such a place and position, choosing rather to suffer with them; but it was enough for Moses that the poor captives were God’s people. It was not enough that his heart was with them and himself far away in the splendid court of Egypt. His single eye judged all that pharaoh’s daughter could offer to be the pleasure of sin. He deliberately resigned the glittering honors and the worldly influence which providence had strewn around him, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
With whom was God identified? With pharaoh’s palace, or with Israel in the iron furnace? Had he followed providence’s he would have sought to succor and relieve, and perhaps ultimately to deliver Israel, through the advantages which his position furnished: but it was faith which led him to estrange himself from the world and identify himself with the people of God. The world hates God’s people, and may be permitted to enslave them, but can the world bless God’s people? Moses would have shrunk, as a man of faith, from the thought of yielding to the world such a place. It would be to assert that the world is greater, for, beyond all question, the less is blessed of the greater.
Therefore it was that Moses gives up all, and rests only upon God. His desire was not to save himself loss, suffering reproach: he chose it rather, because God was there; and Moses desired to be where God was, and with those whom God loved. How the acting’s of his faith only reflected the feelings of God for his people may be gathered by reading Exodus 3:7-9.
Thus, we see that providence may place us in a position which God would have us not use but shun. It may seem the most fair occasion possible in outward things; but faith judges the contrary, because faith looks not to our honor but to the Fathers; not to our ease, but to His deliverance of His people. Faith rests on the promise of God to his people: and has respect to the recompense of the reward.
— William Kelly (1821-1906)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for May 19
In order for us to pray according to His will, we must first know His will; not only that, but His blessed will must become our will. “If ye abide in Me . . . ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). Prayer is the fellowship of an intimate, living union; as with all of the Christian life, it must be carried on in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He is known as “the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zech. 12:10).
“If I ask anything of God, and have received His answer, I then act with assurance, with the conviction that I am in the path of His will; I am happy and contented. If I meet with some difficulty, this does not stop me; it is only an obstacle which faith has to surmount.
“But if I have not this certainty before I begin, I am in indecision, I know not what to do. There may be a trial of my faith, or it may be that I ought not to do what I am doing. I am in suspense, and I hesitate; even if I am doing the will of God, I am not sure about it, and I am not happy. I ought therefore to be assured that I am doing His will before I begin to act.” -John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)
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