His Will Be DoneSýnishorn

God’s providence refers to how He controls the spinning wheel of history behind the scenes. It is a subset of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. In other words, one way that He achieves His sovereignty is by His providence. The providence of God is the miraculous and mysterious way in which He intersects and interconnects things in order to bring about His sovereignty.

God’s sovereignty is what He wants to happen.

God’s providence is where He sets things up and connects them so that His sovereignty does happen.

Where we often misunderstand things is in the area of providence. This is because without a full awareness of where things are headed (sovereignty), we might wonder about the providential choices of God along the way. There are times when God will allow or even cause things to happen that seem to be in contradiction to what He wants. 

For God to achieve His ultimate sovereign purposes, He will, at times, providentially allow things to take place that are outside of His preferences. This is because in His sovereignty, God will allow things He does not prefer in order to accomplish His ultimate plan. It is only when you understand the link between providence and sovereignty that you will become conscious of God’s fingerprints in the midst of His apparent absence. 

God will often only leave behind fingerprints that only show up when dusted. 

We don’t always get to see how God weaves and twists and tweaks things to take us to our intended destination and purpose. He operates behind the scenes, pulling the strings and setting the stage in ways that sometimes confuse, frustrate and confound us but also in ways that produce the greatest outcome and result. 

To hear more about God's providence, click here to download a complimentary sermon from Dr. Tony Evans, as our gift to you. We want to thank B&H Publishers for these excerpts from Tony Evans' book "Pathways: From Providence to Purpose, published in 2019.