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Contentment and Providence
Our loving heavenly Father works in each of our lives. You are shaped by each moment of time according to God’s inscrutable purpose. Theologians have a name for the continual activity of God in the daily lives of His children: providence. Without a whole-hearted embracing of the doctrine of providence, lasting Christian contentment will be impossible to attain.
The doctrine of providence sees a Person behind everything. There is purpose, intention, plan. There’s a wise and loving Father behind every experience you walk through in life, every person you “chance” to meet, every bruise or cut you receive, every paycheck you earn, every flat tire you endure, every missed connecting flight, every possession that slips out of your pocket.
Providence is the direct activity of God toward the universe He created, moment by moment sustaining its existence and overruling its events to cause the unfolding story of history according to His will. Foundational to this definition is denial that the universe can exist for a single second without God’s activity. When God created the universe, He did it in such a way that everything in it requires His constant active involvement for it to continue to exist.
Beyond this, God works in a mysterious way, through inanimate objects, animals, and intelligent beings (angels, demons, and humans), navigating their activities and choices to achieve His sovereign purposes without violating their freedoms. God works through our choices to bring about His intended purposes. We participate with God in building His kingdom. That is why our choices matter. This is a stunning yet completely accurate and scriptural assertion.
This doctrine of God’s meticulous providential rule over the world is vital to Christian contentment. Christian contentment is finding delight in God’s wise plan for my life and humbly allowing him to direct me in it. Without providence, it would be impossible to find this contentment “in any and every circumstance.” Without the belief that God rules over every atom and every moment, we might think, as unbelievers do, that this or that situation had come to us by “luck” or “karma.” We would miss the wise purpose in all of life’s events. It would be impossible for us to maintain a sweet, inward, quiet submission to a set of random events that did not come from God.
What is most difficult for you in understanding God’s providence? Ask God to help you.
About this Plan
Learning the secret of Christian contentment is the necessary pursuit of every Christ follower. Why? Contentment allows each pursuer the opportunity to live in freedom, unencumbered, and at God’s disposal for His purpose. Many Christians rarely experience the daily foretaste of heaven that the Holy Spirit lives within us to provide. This week, you are invited to taste the fullness of joy that Christian contentment brings your life.
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