Providence

I've been thinking a lot recently about providence. The readings for many of the Sundays in August were from the story of Joseph which we find in the last section of the book of Genesis. One of the central themes of the story is that the events are often a reflection of God's providence.

To understand providence, I find it helpful to think about what it is not. There are two other ways that we can imagine God relating to humanity. On one hand, there are Biblical stories of God working through direct and unmistakable intervention. He comes down and wrestles with Jacob in the middle of the night in an earlier chapter of Genesis. In the book of Joshua he stops the sun for a day.

On the other hand, you can imagine that God is far removed from everyday events. This was, philosophically, the majority view and was probably the view of the Founding Fathers of our country. In this view God is, as Aristotle put it, the 'unmoved mover.' Enlightenment thinkers imagined God like a great clockmaker who created the clock, wound it up and then just lets it run its course.

Providence strikes a middle course between these two. God's hand is always at work but in ways that are often hidden, unknown, indirect and inscrutable. God's hand is often only seen in retrospect. It can be seen working through dreams, unexpected expression of wisdom and in what seems to be coincidence. The Joseph story manifests this pattern again and again. I urge you to read chapters 37 to 45 yourself. The slow accumulation of detail in the text makes a far better argument for providence than any summary I could offer.

I believe God's providence, which simply defined is God's guidance and care, is still active now. The best way to discover providence at work today is to train the eyes of heart by the regular reading of scripture. The words, images and stories we find there are among God's best teachers for us to learn to detect his ways.