The Mystery of Providence

It was what seemed like an eternity before I was able to hold our fourth child for the first time. Needing attention in the NICU, he was whisked away, and I went to the recovery room. I didn't get to see his sweet baby face until the end of the day.

I still had to stay with the other Moms on the maternity ward. I sat in my room crying while I listened to the new Moms laugh and rejoice over their babies. It seemed a cruel thing to do to a Mom whose baby wasn't with her. I cried so much, and I guess so loud, that strangers would peek in the room, asking if they could help me.

It was a hard providence, and I had about a tablespoon's worth of understanding of God's sovereignty. That ignorance made my not having my baby with me and the others mothers having theirs torture. I was mad. Why me? Why not them?

It's a mystery to us all:
Every day we live out the mystery of God's providence. We enjoy a happy mercy while others face suffering and disappointment. We hurt and suffer while others rejoice.

While I was celebrating Ink's 17th birthday, a precious friend was wondering if her teenaged son was going to see his 17th birthday.

While suffering from the pain of a miscarriage, I had to give a baby shower for a sister in Christ. My heart was mourning while everyone else was rejoicing.

While I was watching my Dad take his last breath, another Mom was watching hers play with her children.

Some of us struggle regularly to make our income match our expenses while we watch friends never give a second thought to what they can afford.

Some of us battle chronic illness while others enjoy a health they only take for granted.

Some of us know intense loneliness day after day while others are surrounded by love and affection and fellowship.

A life-changing truth:
The truth of God's providence is life-changing. Though it remains a mystery in many ways, there's enough we can understand about it and process deep down in our souls. Accepting the beautiful truth of God's providential care over us moves us from fist-shaking, tantrum-throwing whiners who cry, "That's not fair!" at every turn, to submissive, humble-hearted servants who ask, "Why me?" in the midst of an easy providence, and "Why not me?" in the midst of a hard one.

John Flavel and The Mystery of Providence:
Every time I read a Puritan writing, I stamp it with "must read" status. John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence is no exception. There's a lot of marginalia going on in my copy, and Flavel's words encouraged my heart down to the last sentence.

This book is for the Christian who has no clue about God's providence and buys into the lie that there are things that just happen by luck or chance in our lives.

This book is for the murmurer who can't see a speck of green on her side of the fence while she stomps her feet over the lush fields that belong to her neighbor.

This book is for the heavy-hearted, discouraged soul who has seen one hard providence after another and sees no purpose in it all.

This book is for the one who has embraced wholeheartedly the truth of God's providence, for it will open your eyes anew to God's mercies and make you weep afresh at His goodness.

Dare I disagree with a Puritan?
I'll first say I might be misunderstanding Flavel's points in a section of his writing I took objection to. In fact, based on everything else in his book, I'm hard-pressed to think I'm not misunderstanding. However, when Flavel speaks in the beginning of his book about being thankful we weren't born severely disabled and that he can't think of any purpose in this providence other than to show God's sovereignty, I disagree. It might still be a mystery to us, but God has formed us and made us who we are, and even the most disabled children are instruments of profound blessing.

You have to remember them:
Flavel's passion for remembering God's mercies is infectious. It was reinforcement for me to keep recording His mercies, to keep celebrating them, to keep speaking loudly to our children of them, to make a BIG deal of them!

The truth is our memories aren't reliable, and, as Flavel observes, past mercies are often diminished by new ones, and we lose the awe and wonder of previous deliverances.

So, write His mercies down! Encourage one another with them. Encourage your own heart and the hearts of generations to come with the truth that God is faithful and sovereign and orders our lives perfectly.

I'd love to bless two readers with a copy of one of my favorite reads thus far this year. Just leave a comment letting me know you want to be entered. US only, please, and be willing to share your address and phone number to I can ship directly from Amazon. :) I'll announce the winners on Friday, April 20th.

"It is the great support and solace of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here, that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues. And indeed, it were not worth while to live in a world devoid of God and Providence."
~John Flavel

With love,
Trisha