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NASB | Job 23:13 "But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Job 23:13 "But He is unique and unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. |
Subject: Theological Term: Divine Providence |
Bible Note: Divine providence is the working of God's will in human events, which includes His preservation and sovereign government of the world. (The Epicurean view holds that the world is ruled by chance, the Stoic position that it is ruled by fate, and the modern position that it is ruled by empirical laws of physics.) It includes the Lord's foreknowledge, foreordination, and decrees. It operates through the miraculous (primary causes) and natural phenomenon (secondary causes). Divine Providence is generally considered to include the following elements (from A. A. Hodge's commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith): 1. Divine Preservation -- This is that continuous work of God by which He upholds all things. While the world has a distinct existence and is not a part of God, it nevertheless has the ground of its continued existence in God and not in itself. It endures through a continued exercise of divine power by which all things are maintained in being and action. This doctrine is taught in the following passages: Psalm 136:25; 145:15; Neh 9:6; Acts 17:28; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3. 2. Divine Concursus -- This may be defined as that work of God by which He co-operates with all His creatures and causes them to act precisely as they do. It implies that there are real secondary causes in the world, such as the powers of nature and the will of man, and asserts that these do not work independently of God. God works in every act of His creatures, not only in their good but also in their evil acts. He stimulates them to action, accompanies their action at every moment, and makes this action effective. However, we should never think of God and man as equal causes; the former is the primary, and the latter only a secondary cause. Neither should we conceive of them as each doing a part of the work like a team of horses. The same deed is in its entirety both a deed of God and a deed of man. Moreover, we should guard against the idea that this co-operation makes God responsible for man's sinful deeds. This doctrine is based on Scripture, Deut 8:18; Psalm 104:20, 21, 30; Amos 3:6; Matt 6:45; 10:29; Acts 14:17; Phil 2:13. 3. Divine Governance -- This is the continued activity of God whereby He rules all things so that they answer to the purpose of their existence. God is represented as King of the universe both in the Old and in the New Testament. He adapts His rule to the nature of the creatures which He governs; His government of the physical world differs from that of the spiritual world. It is universal, Psalm 103:19; Dan 4:34, 35, includes the most insignificant things, Matt 10:29-31, and that which is seemingly accidental, Proverbs 16:33, and bears on both the good and the evil deeds of man, Phil 2:18; Genesis 50:20; Acts 14:16. "A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly problems. It is almost equally true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal providence of God is the solution of most theological problems." --B. B. Warfield "We turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them." --Charles West "Because God sustains the universe's moment-by-moment existence, nothing comes about independently of his will. He governs all creatures and events so that they accomplish what he intends, either by their acting freely (as through human choice) or contingently (as when something happens that did not have to happen) or necessarily (as with the law of gravity). Thus God, in ways beyond our understanding, works in and through everything to bring about his good purposes." --Eric Landry |