Mystery of Providence - Chapter Two

Our Birth and Upbringing

In this chapter Flavel reminds us of God's work of Providence in planting us when and where he did. Most of his examples show that birth in 17th century England is to be preferred to any other time or place. After all, who would want to be born in heathen America?

He details the benefits of a Godly upbringing, and ends the chapter with admonitions to parents to care for the spiritual welfare of their children and to children to obey the commands of Godly parents.

As I read this chapter I was once again reminded of the Providential nature of my own birth and upbringing. I can only marvel at the way that God has woven together all the strands of my life for my benefit and His glory.

I was born to an American serviceman and his English wife in Newfoundland, Canada. As a result, I have dual US/Canadian citizenship. Had both my parents been US citizens at the time of my birth I would only have US citizenship. I sometimes feel like the Apostle Paul, and continue to wonder how God will use my possession of US and Canadian passports for His use.

As an Army brat I lived all over, to include a total of five years in England during two separate periods. Spending your formative years in a foreign country, especially if it is very pleasant due to the proximity of your foreign grandparents, makes one into a completely different person than one planted and rooted in one place. Upon our return from England in 1968 my Dad had orders to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Even though he didn't think that it was a good thing that these were changed en route to the Vietnamese Language School at Biggs Field in El Paso, Texas (next stop, Vietnam), it was good for me in many, many ways.

First, it was in El Paso that I was introduced to Christ Jesus. During a summer job as a teenager a fellow co-worker took interest in my soul and shared the Gospel with me. Second, I was enfolded into a Bible believing church where I learned to practice my faith while sitting under Godly preaching and teaching. Third, I met my wife of almost 30 years, Barbara, an El Paso native. I am sure that my children are glad of this, even though our son is now living and working at Ft. Huachuca in Arizona.

Providence weaves all of these strands together in a wonderful way. While I grew up in a nominally Christian home (Dad was raised a Congregationalist and Mom in the Church of England), I am now blessed that both Mom and Dad worship in the church that I pastor, both of our children are in the faith, my son-in-law recently came to faith, and my grandchildren are being raised in a Godly home. How different all of this would be had the US Army not changed Dad's orders in 1968. Yet, the God that we serve is not only more powerful than the US Army, He actually directs its course.

The wonderful thing about this is the fact that Providence has not yet run its course. All of my history is being used to determine the next steps in this wonderful pilgrimage. At the same time I have the assurance that everything that happens is under His control.

Eye Brow Raising - Mystery of Providence, Chapter 2

Sometimes we read things that we disagree with, even from good authors. Here is an example from Chapter 2 of The Mystery of Providence:

Look then, but not proudly, upon your outside and inside. See and admire what Providence has done for you, and how well it has performed the first service that ever it did for you in this world. And yet, this was not all it did for you. Before you saw this world, it preserved you, as well as formed you in the womb, else you had been as those embryos Job speaks of ‘which never saw light’ (3. 16). Abortives go for nothing in the world, and there are multitudes of them. Some never had a reasonable soul breathed into them, but only the rudiments and rough draft of a body; these come not into the account of men, but perish as the beast does. Others die in, or shortly after they come out of the womb, and though their life was but a moment, yet that moment entails an eternity upon them. Had this been your case, as it is the case of millions, then, supposing your salvation, yet you had been utterly unserviceable to God in the world; none had been the better for you, nor you the better for any in the world. You had been utterly incapable of all that good which throughout your life you have either done to others or received from others.

I wonder how Flavel would reconcile the words in bold with Luke 1:39-45?

Mystery of Providence - Chapter One

The Work of Providence for the Saints

John Flavel opens The Mystery of Providence by presenting the following questions and objections, and then answers the questions and refutes the objections using copious references to Scripture and extra-Scriptural examples:

1. How comes it to pass that so many signal mercies and deliverances have befallen the people of God, above the power and against the course of natural causes, to make way for which there has been an obvious suspension and stop put to the course of nature? (pg. 29)

2. How is it if the saints’ affairs are not ordered by a special divine Providence that natural causes unite and associate themselves for their relief and benefit in so strange a manner as they are found to do? (pg. 31)

3. If the concerns of God’s people are not governed by a special Providence, how is it that the most apt and powerful means employed to destroy them are rendered ineffectual, while weak, contemptible means employed for their defence and comfort are crowned with success? (pg. 32)

4. If all things are governed by the course of nature and force of natural causes, how then comes it to pass that, like a bowl when it strikes another, men are turned out of the way of evil, along which they were driving at full speed? (pg. 34-35)

5. If there is not an over-ruling Providence ordering all things for the good of God’s people, how comes it to pass that the good and evil which is done to them in this world is accordingly repaid into the bosoms of them that are instrumental therein? (pg. 36)

6. If these things are merely accidental, how is it that they square and agree so exactly with the Scriptures in all particulars? (pg. 38)

7. If these things are contingent, how is it that they fall out so remarkably in the nick of time, which makes them so greatly observable to all that consider them? (pg. 40)

8. Lastly, were these things accidental and contingent, how can it be that they should fall out so immediately upon and consonantly to the prayers of the saints? So that in many providences they are able to discern a very clear answer to their prayers, and are sure they have the petitions they asked (1 John 5. 15). (pg. 41)

Truly, "His providences proclaim Him to be a God who hears prayer." (pg. 42)

Mystery of Providence - Introduction

It is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straits, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages in their lives.

Thus on page 20 Flavel introduces us to the doctrine that will drive this book, deriving it from Psalm 57:2 - I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. Here we see our utter dependence upon God coupled with the promise that He is totally in control.

Can we know now all of the designs that God has for us? Can we comprehend His Providence in all of its twists and turns? Not now, but one day:

O how ravishing and delectable a sight will it be to behold at one view the whole design of Providence, and the proper place and use of every single act, which we could not understand in this world! What Christ said to Peter is as applicable to some providences in which we are now concerned as it was to that particular action: ‘What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter’ (John 13. 7). All the dark, intricate, puzzling providences at which we were sometimes so offended, and sometimes amazed, which we could neither reconcile with the promise nor with each other, nay, which we so unjustly censured and bitterly bewailed, as if they had fallen out quite against our happiness, we shall then see to be to us, as the difficult passage through the wilderness was to Israel, ‘the right way to a city of habitation’ (Ps. 107. 7). (pg. 22)

Hang on, I think that it is going to be quite a ride!

Mystery of Providence - Publisher's Introduction

Why should we read John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence in February 2008?

Simple answer? Because we have a NEED to read this book and make a serious study of its subject matter.

More complex answer? We can do no better than to read the following from the Publisher's Introduction to this work:

Our modern piety, when it deals with spiritual problems, tends to be self-centred and subjective; 'How can I find peace? How can I be victorious and effective? How can I be guided?' If we know the answers to these questions, it is often felt, nothing more can be asked of us. Within the terms of such an outlook, little time and attention can be spared for the consideration of such an apparently theoretical subject as the Providence of God. it may even provoke some impatience. In view of the demands of modern life, is it really necessary for us to spend time reading a lengthly treatment of what is not priority?

Flavel's approach to the subject of Providence cuts clean across our modern criticisms. he insists from the outset that it is the duty of believers to observe all the performances of God's providence for them, especially when they are in difficulties. Clearly this conviction is not shared by the majority of evangelical Christians in the present day. it is not our custom nor is it regarded as a mark of spiritual keenness to seek to discover and meditate upon the work of Providence in all that happens to us. Two reasons for this may be suggested. First and foremost, the Puritans had a lively sense of the sovereignty of God and it is just this that, speaking generally, we lack today. Many Christians reject it intellectually as repugnant to free will and their understanding of the love of God. When they suffer a setback in their personal affairs or in the work of the gospel, it is ascribed wholly to the Devil or to failure in themselves to 'fulfill the conditions'. They feel a sense of personal frustration and may even believe that God Himself has been frustrated. their only hope of success is to intensify their spiritual exercises. Prayer on this basis is not so much a plea to Omnipotence as the throwing of one's weight into the scale on the side of God. Even those who profess to accept without question the truth of divine sovereignty are not infrequently guilty of practical unbelief. Glibly to assert that 'all things work together for good to them that love God' is relatively easy but to believe this when our circumstances are distasteful and appear likely to deteriorate is evidence of a spiritual apprehension of the sovereignty of God. Yet we cannot truly recognize and improve the workings of Providence until we learn from the Scriptures that God performs all things for us. (pg. 12-13)

The previous words were penned in 1963. As we sit here 45 years later, little has changed. If anything, the "evangelical church" of 2008 is more driven by pragmatism, programs, and personalities (a sad alliteration but true) than it was in the mid-60's . We need to reject this unholy triumvirate and trust completely in God's Providence. In so doing it is my prayer that we will abandon our "self-centred" focus and set our eyes on the One who does all things well.