REMEMBERING THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE
Early on Saturday morning, July 29, 2023, we had a wild storm in Sutton, Nebraska. Lots of rain, wind, and some hail. Trees have been uprooted, branches broken off, buildings and cars damaged, some power outage, and the city officials called a state of emergency in the town. This is a good time for us sinful mortals to reflect upon the rule and reign of our sovereign God. He reminds us that our life is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. He teaches us that He, not man, is in full control of all things in heaven and on earth, and that He does all things primarily for His glory, honor, and praise, and secondarily for the good of His church. The Lord sends the rain, wind, hail, lightning, snow, drought, and all the storms of life, both physically and spiritually. We murmur and complain to our own peril and ruin. The Christian ought never to be heard grumbling about God’s hand of Providence.
Every believer has the promise that God is working all things together for their salvation; the reprobate have no such promise, but only that all things are working together for their destruction. Yes, unpleasant things happen to believers and unbelievers alike, but the comfort for the believer is that the Hand of Providence is governing all events in life; no matter how harsh or pleasant, our God reigns. This truth ought to be the soft pillow that every believer rests his head upon as he lays down on his bed at night. Ultimately, in life and in death, our comfort, dear Christian, is that we belong both body and soul to our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what storms He sends upon us in this troubled life, they are sent for His praise and are His teaching tools to instruct the redeemed to be “patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move” (Heidelberg Catechism, 28). Look to the Lord in confident and patient trust for the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God does all things well. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength” (Isa. 26:3-4).
—Pastor S. Henry