Mystery of Providence Chapter 12b

The Five Cases in Flavel’s Chapter on Providence

All righty, with this we will almost be done with the book. We will finish it next week with a tiny portion that's left in this chapter, and then we'll just do like an overall, what should we take from what we have finished reading, and sort of just give a recap of the whole book.

And if you don't have papers, there are still more in the back printed out, and this time they're on one page like they're supposed to be, which is lovely. All right, so again, from this chapter, John Flavel tries to present us with five cases.

We've done the first two cases. Now it's time for the third and the fourth. And these are cases where he considers practical problems in connection with providence. So these are things that, not problems with God's providence but problems we should be answering in a sense.

So questions we should have about how we relate to God's providence and how we apply that to our lives. So this third case is, how should we discern that a providence is brought by God's love for us? Now they're coming from a Calvinist understanding of what God loves and what God hates.

So when he talks about God's love for us, this is not like a general love for man, but he's speaking specifically of love given to the elect, love given to those who are saved, and that if his wrath is upon us, that wrath is not the fatherly discipline that he provides to his people, but that wrath is rather to the reprobate who are disregarding him and who are rejecting him.

So he does say that there are in this sense two situations we should be considering God's providence through. That is that all providences are indeed ordered for your good if you are of the elect, and as well, all providences are ordered to no good for the reprobate.

Afflictions, Mercy, and the Signs of God’s Love

And so in regards to the workings of good for the elect, he reminds us again that even afflictions are ordered for your good. It's not just the good that God does for us, but even the afflictions. Let's look at two passages for that, Romans 8, 28 first.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. And then as well in Isaiah 27, 9. Therefore by this, the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin.

When he makes all the stones of the altars like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no asheram or incense altars will remain standing. Saying by no asheram and incense altars remain standing, he's saying there will be no false idols in this man's heart.

And so therefore the affliction here in Isaiah is working to make the person more righteous, make them more like Christ, and to continue to remove idols from their life. And now for the reprobate, how all things are ordered to no good for them.

I have both a quote and a whole slew of passages. We'll go through a few of them. But the quote from the book is, as the worst things are ordered to the benefit of the saints, so the best things wicked men enjoy do them no good.

And so let's look at the first four verses, or four passages we have here. So Psalm 109 .7, when he is tried, let him come forth guilty. Let his prayer be counted as sin. Take that, understand that God's counting the man's prayer as sin.

This is to the reprobate, not us, not those who God has called, but rather even the prayers, even the supplications this person has brought to the Lord, they're not being brought with the right heart, they're not being brought with the spirit and through the spirit.

So instead, those are being counted as sin. Second Corinthians 2 .16. To one, a fragrance from death to death, to the other, a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? So the fragrance from death to death, we've been seeing that's for those who are not elect.

For a fragrance from life to life, that's for those of the elect, and this is speaking in regards to what the Lord is working in them. Jude verse four. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

So perverting the grace of God into sensuality, that's in regards to those who do not recognize the Lord as the master over their life. Instead, when God provides them good things, when he gives them graces, they turn that into an increase of sensuality in life, meaning that they are taking that as like, I am being blessed by the universe, I'm being blessed by my choices that I'm making.

Rather, it's God heaping upon them less excuse for their disregard of him. And then first Peter 2 .8. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

And you can look at the rest of them later, but they all are sort of honing in on this point very clearly. And now we take from this two different considerations. Let's read both of those first and get into the reasons for them.

Providence itself cannot be used to determine God's love or hatred for a man. I think it's best understanding his point if you continue to read and see the second consideration, so that's why we're gonna say it up front.

And that second consideration is, the manner, effects, and fruit of providence can be used for assurance. So it's not that the providences and kinds of providences can be used for assurance, but rather what they produce in a man.

So let's look first at what we mean by the providence itself cannot be used to determine God's love or hatred. Good providence is coming to you, so good things happening to you do not mean that you are saved and loved by God.

It is not that God rewards you for being an elect, it's not a Joel Osteen gospel, it's not one where you get for what you've done and for what you believe, but rather it is something else. And bad providences themselves do not mean you're unsaved and hated by God, so the Lord putting you under great affliction does not mean you are unsaved.

And if you have this mindset about you, that my life is difficult, God must be punishing me, I hate myself, and you're unable to understand your sin in light of the gospel, that itself is the thing that you should be concerned with, is the effect and fruit upon your soul.

Let's look at the passages related to this, starting with Ecclesiastes 9, one through two. But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God, whether it is love or hate, man does not know.

Both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.

As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. So the writer of Ecclesiastes, presumably Solomon, is reminding us of exactly this point. God provides all things to all men, so it cannot be the thing itself that determines who you are.

Actually, I think we don't even need to look to the rest of them. Actually, let's look at Ezekiel 21 three. Let's just look at that one as well. And say to the land of Israel, thus says the Lord, behold, I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you, both righteous and wicked.

So again, the acts are being done against both sets of people in the land of Israel. It is not only against one. And so now let's go to then how we should be interpreting the providences in regards to our assurance, which is that the manner, effects, and fruit can be used.

So let's look to Hebrews 12 11 before we dive into the sub points. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

And so with this, we can take a bunch of separate applications. He had seven that he listed for us. First is providences that are coming in a proper timing. That timing itself can be something we can cling to to say God is doing this because of his love for me.

In this, and he has 1 Peter 1 6 to support this. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. So you're rejoicing in this present moment because of the previous trials that you've gone through.

So there's an opportuneness to God's relief from the affliction that he's provided. A big one that he's gonna repeat in different aspects really, which is providences that work to correct our wickedness are great tools for our assurance.

A quote from him, when God sends such afflictions as like medicine, this speaks divine care and love. And he mentions Isaiah 27 8 for this one as well. Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them.

He removed them with his fierce breath the day of the east wind. So his removal of these people, it's like the removal of the aspects of us that are against him, the removal of that sin. Now as well, afflictions that we endure that turn our hearts from sin are again signs of God's love for us.

Let's look at the Revelation passage first. Revelation 16 9, they were scorched by the fierce heat and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

So this is a kind of negative case for what we're proving, which is that those who the Lord rejects, their response to God's curse upon them, their response to his affliction is to not repent and to not give him glory.

So therefore repenting and glorifying the Lord are the proper response. Daniel 9 7 as well. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.

And Lamentations 9 39. Why should a living man complain, a man about the punishment of his sins? So that's one for us to especially consider is that generally we are experiencing something painful and afflicting often because the Lord is trying to purify us in some way that we do not have a doctrine of Christian perfection.

We will not be perfect in this life. There is always some sin to mortify and the Lord often mortifies us through affliction. And this again, if you want, I've mentioned this one multiple times, but section, well, article, I don't know what I should call it, 5 -5 of the Confession is very good at speaking about this and how the Lord is trying to use these events to correct us of our sin.

Now afflictions also leave us mortified, so mortified of sin, of our sin and humble. These are again, signs of God's love for us. Let's look at Isaiah and Ezekiel both for this. So Isaiah 48 10. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. In Ezekiel 24 six. Therefore this says the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it and whose corrosion has not gone out of it.

Take out of it piece after piece without making any choice. Trying to find the extra, the section around it to help understand. But this is the Lord speaking about a rebellious house. It's in this parable about the house too.

And he's speaking about the corruption that is within it, pulling that corruption out. So this is a way in which he is pulling corruption out of, in this case, the city, but we can understand any of these times where we're speaking about the city, we're speaking about the people of God as a whole.

This can be applied to us as well, applied to us on an individual level, as well as the level of the church. Now, another point from John, when we draw near to God and seek him while under affliction, we can be assured.

So while under affliction, we need to sort of recognize a way that we respond to the Lord. Are we going to seek him in that moment or do we immediately shut ourselves up? Do we become very self-focused?

Just indignant about actually bringing the Lord into our life? Rather, we should immediately turn to the Lord and immediately turn to him for correction, turn to him for understanding when we are in our affliction.

And the last major, second to last major point in this section, are when our love of God is increased in that providence, so that's whether in the mercy or the affliction, if they result in a greater love for the Lord, we can have a guarantee of our assurance from that as well.

And not only are these things where you should see, like, am I naturally doing this? If you don't naturally do this, it is still something you can build up with faith. It's not that every Christian is now gonna perfectly behave in these ways and perfectly grow in the love of the Lord.

If instead, the Lord will probably just increase affliction upon you until you learn that lesson. So instead, it's something to train upon yourself. All right, so let's look at Psalm 44, 17 through 19.

All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way. Yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.

So speaking about them not even turning from the Lord, yet the Lord is still afflicting them. So this is not a statement of absolution where they're saying I am perfect, what is upon me, but rather in my perception something is perfect, yet clearly there is still something wrong for I am covered with the shadow of death.

If they did not have an increase for the love of God in this passage, they would not appeal to the covenant as this good thing that they have not been turning from. And lastly, we should be learning divine truths in the midst of our affliction, at least in the correction of that.

So Psalm 94 .12 is very clear about this. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, in whom you teach out of your law. Now, after these considerations, he has one other major question he asks us to consider.

And really, I think it should have been a fourth case in this chapter about like practical problems in connection with providence, but he's nesting it within here. And that is, how then are good providences revealed to us?

So how can we understand that a providence was made good for us? Not just how we respond to it, but how can we then even interpret it as such? He gives negative arguments and positive arguments to clarify for people.

Negative arguments are things, in this case, that we should not expect to see if this thing is ordered for our good, and positive arguments are things we should expect to see if they're ordered for our good.

So starting with the negative. If in the affliction or in the mercy, no prayer is given to God, and there is no increased thoughtfulness about God, if the thing comes and it just passes by with neither of these, that is a sign to us that this is not one, that that person, the situation, or really this person is not oriented towards the Lord.

Psalm 10, three through four is what they mention here. For the wicked boasts of the desires of a soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him.

All his thoughts are, there is no God. So again, to not give prayer to the Lord, not to think about the Lord when he's done good and when he's punished you, it's as if you're saying in your thoughts, there is no God.

He does not come to your mind in regards to these things. When it points to as well, acquiring mercies by wrongful means. So if you're cheating, if you are getting gain because of how you cheat others or getting gain because you're just going about them in wrongful, sinful ways, this is not a sign that God loves you.

It's rather a sign in the other way. So Proverbs 16, eight, better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. So great revenues with injustice. We live in the Bay Area. I think I shouldn't have to explain a lot of these things to you guys.

A lot of what we work on is built upon injustice. Not that being wealthy is unjust, but the ways in which these godless organizations and godless companies become wealthy is often simply unjust. So we should consider individually for ourselves the truth of this passage, that it would be better to be poor in a righteous manner than to be wealthy from an unjust manner.

When one forgets God in their mind and in their duties, that's another thing that signs that we do not really, that person does not properly understand the Lord's providence. It's a long passage associated with that one, so we're gonna go ahead and skip over that, but please go back and read these as we can.

There's a lot of scripture in this particular section, a lot of very specific things. When our prosperity goes to fuel our fleshly lusts, he mentioned some very specific examples that we don't need to repeat here, but our prosperity should not go to things that do not grow us further from God, things that bring us further away from God.

Our prosperity should not be getting spent on those. This goes well with a lot of other passages to speak about how difficult it is for the wealthy man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's not that that wealth makes him any less unjust.

Or any less unrighteous in front of the Lord, but rather there is a greater temptation given to that man and a greater thing to conquer. We've seen this in previous chapters as well, where he speaks about if you're in a meek condition, there's not much given to you, there is potentially a lot of providence in that, and that you do not have even the capabilities for certain kinds of sin that other man has, right?

So if we look at Job 21, 11 through 13 for this, they send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace, they go down to shale.

Negative argument five, that man becomes swelled with pride and with self-conceit. This should be pretty obvious at this point why that's wrong, why that is denying the Lord the glory that he should be given for the mercies that he's providing.

An increase of pride and self-conceit, again, just goes to show that this man thinks he is completely in control of his own self, that the Lord has nothing to do with it, and again, he's saying in his heart that there is no God.

And we can see this with Daniel 4, 29 through 30, a very classic verse here. At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

This is just after he's seen many obvious, obvious reasons that the Lord Yahweh has given him all of these things, and yet he immediately applies it to himself, and the Lord punishes him greatly after this,.

As we may remember.

A man's success makes him forget his duties. There's another thing that should be obvious to us about what is a wrongful response. So again, we're gonna get into the positive arguments, but this one in particular, man should not be forgetting his duties, but should rather be recognizing the places that the Lord has placed him in life and be able to do those things more appropriately.

If he's a father, it should lead him to greater fatherliness. If he is over any other men and women in authority, it should put him in a greater understanding of that thing. If he has a master that he is a slave to, so for us, any of the work that we do, there's a sense in which it should rightfully orient us with those.

Maybe that's that that thing is wrong. Maybe it's that that thing is good and needs to be done better in order to be more, for us to be more well-suited for the work the Lord has given. And then lastly here, a man's success may make him forget public miseries.

There's not a really great and succinct way to put this in writing it down, but he was pointing out that public miseries are effectively the strifes and afflictions of the general people. So whether that be those who are incredibly poor and suffering, he's effectively making an argument for those who completely forget the sufferings of the poor and the suffering that is around them.

Those people are not mindful in the way that God desires them to be. And so let's look at Amos 6, 4 through 6 for this. Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stress themselves out on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.

So I think we see much of this around here. We see very obvious displays of people by word caring about the poor, by word caring about the suffering around them and in action doing everything they can to make it worse.

So we should really consider that with ourselves. We should consider how we as Christians are to treat the poor and are to treat even not just the poor, but just those who have, those who are not actively creating evil, how we should be caring for them and caring for society.

We should be builders, not just inhabitants. And now for positive arguments as well. So these are things we should expect to see from the man who God is doing good works in. This man is humbled before God.

That providence makes this man more cautious of sin. This man increases in his love of God. Many of these are just complete flips of what we had just read. So we're just gonna go through them quick. That man is not fully satisfied on account of the providence.

This is worth looking at specifically. What he means here is that, oh, this verse reference doesn't exist. Lovely, so I misread it. But what he's saying here is that that providence itself is not fully satisfying for us.

It should instead be what the Lord is teaching in us, what the Lord is trying to do within us. That thing should be fully satisfying to us, but the providence itself, whether it be the mercy or affliction, is not in and of itself helpful, in and of itself fully satisfying.

Now in contrast to what we had just said about a minute ago, this man does not forget public miseries. Rather, this man would become more aware of this thing. He would become more aware of the affliction around him.

So if we look at Nehemiah 2, 1 through 3 for this, in the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not seen sad, I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick?

This is nothing but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?

And so he's pointing out here that this man is so righteously distraught with the things that are occurring to, in this case, the people of God, that those men around him cannot help but notice his composure.

Now the man who, we should expect the man who is getting a good work done in him by providence, he should be more readied and aware of his duties. So he should be, again, growing in the responsibilities that he has, he should be growing in desire of these things and growing in capability.

So we look to 2 Chronicles 17, five through six for an example of this. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat. He had great riches and honor.

His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord and furthermore, he took the high places and the ashram out of Judah. And that last section shows you especially how great Jehoshaphat must have been because not no other king but nearly no other king had done such a thing and been as faithful to the Lord.

And we see specifically the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. So this man as king, he had some of the greatest duties on earth and he increased in them as he increased in praise of the Lord and in following what the Lord has asked him to do.

And lastly, the providence that we endure is brought by prayer and is returned in praise, meaning the providences that come to us are also related to prayers we have been giving. So if we're in constant prayer for the Lord to do work in our lives, we see that work specifically done.

That is something we can take as a good sign. But also when we see that it should be returned in praise, we should not simply take that it happened and move along. We should take it and return it in praise.

And this is part of why he's saying frequently throughout this book to record our providences. If we record our providences, we can continuously bring that thing back in praise. There's really no time that we shouldn't bring these things back.

Like I should be continuously thankful I was born. I should be continuously thankful I got married. And the circumstances that came about from that is not that you give it a single praise and move along.

You may have spent many years asking for these things in prayer, but only thanking God once.

You should do both.

Steadiness, Anxiety, and Trust Under Providence

And now moving on to the fourth case. How should we stay steady and trusting of God amidst providences? Or more generally, how can we not grow in anxiety? How can we avoid the sin of anxiety when we are waiting for God's providences?

This relates a lot to the last section that we read through, that we did last week, just about patience. But let's look here. He points out the providence has various incontrary aspects. We're gonna go through what those are in particular, and there's a lot of verse references here.

So again, we're just gonna hop over them really quick, but they are very helpful. Let's not hop over all of them, let's do one of them. Let's do Job 12, 21. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

So again, we're seeing like, we're supposed to trust the Lord. However, there are just weird and confusing things that are done, depending on how you interpret loosens the belt, right? And then Psalm 102 .10, this is coming from David, right?

Because of your indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down, so David's thrown down. So we should really, we gotta understand God's providence is a complicated thing. It's a thing that comes to us in unclear ways.

It may be that, again, we are saved, so we have afflictions. If we are saved and have afflictions, how do we remain not anxious? And that's gonna come down to recognizing how the Lord works and what he has promised you, and that's what John takes us through here.

So in regards to that, he says that we will commonly experience what he deemed great disorders of spirit under God's providences. So our weakness and corruption is itself exposed by the afflictions that God provides us.

So showing that we, because we are still with sin, there's still plenty of weakness and corruption that is inside of us that must be exposed. The Lord has to work in us in this way, so we, in a sense, should absolutely expect the Lord to provide us afflictions.

We should not be calling for it and doing things to actively bring it about, but we should expect it to occur. Let's look at Philippians 4 .12, so this is coming from the Apostle Paul. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. As Paul is explaining that he, of all men, has been brought to great lows and to great highs, and in all these things, stayed steady.

I think there's even a sense in which he's asking us to stay steady in the highs, where the Lord is revealing much to us, to not become proud about it, but to recognize the benefit of that thing be given to us.

But that benefit being given to us in a mercy is not, maybe I won't get into arguments of equality, so to speak, but it is valuable in a same kind of way as our afflictions. It is still because of the love of the Lord that this thing is occurring for you.

He is trying to grow you and give you truth in either manner, and hoping that you will come closer to him and become more holy in that. Now, as well, our disorders of spirit are greatly reduced in measure with trust in God's ways in regards to three aspects, comfort, calamity and doubt.

I'm gonna go through the questions first again,.

And then we'll get into the specifics.

So how should we be stable when God is providing comfort? How should we be stable when God is ordering our calamity around us? And how should we have peace when we are amidst what he calls a doubtful providence?

So we'll look to comfort, because it relates as well to what I was saying with Paul, where even in the great things, we need to have a steadiness about us. So first off, comforts are also common to the worst of men.

So it's not that we're being given this thing in particular because the Lord loves us, but rather because he gives it to all men. And again, this verse reference I gave does not exist. It's all in Roman numerals in the PDF, so it can be quite difficult at times.

Comforts are unstable and they are mutable. So let's look at both of these real quick. Proverbs 23, five. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

And then James 1, 10. And the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. So all the comforts that God gives us in our lives, that he gives to the elect, the reprobate, to all people, these things are inherently unstable and inherently ever-changing.

So we cannot rest our trust upon the things the Lord has given. We can only set our trust upon the one who has provided to us. Next point, it felt best just to take directly what John Flavel had said.

The changes of providence are never nearer to the people of God than when their hearts are lifted up or grown secure by prosperity. So when he says the changes of providence, that's especially from affliction, from mercy to affliction, is what he's mostly speaking about here.

So when he says it's never nearer, he truly means that when, sort of in the sense everything is going well, we are never nearer at that point than at that point to afflictions being visited upon us because of our own pride, because of our misunderstanding of the prosperity the Lord has given and a need for us to be brought down low in order to learn more of who he is.

And he gave me an example of Hezekiah in Isaiah 39. Let's read all of this because it's very helpful to take that in. So 39, two through seven. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly, and he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses.

There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, what did these men say, and from where did they come to you?

Hezekiah said, they have come to me from a far country, from Babylon. He said, what have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, they have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, that your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon. So Isaiah is exposing to Hezekiah that he has gone about this in a wrongful way, that he has done this in a proud way.

It's a lot more context here, but we can at least understand that Hezekiah is not doing something rightful here. And in that way, the Lord is about to turn this providence around on him and teach him something through affliction.

So this is not to say that we, in our comfort, should be scared of what the Lord is bringing to us next, but rather it should be a warning to us of what the Lord has provided us needs to be understood in the proper light, needs to be stewarded well.

And as we steward it well, He may continue to bless us, but also, never any moment are you, every moment you are nearer and nearer to the nest of affliction that the Lord is going to give you. And therefore, you should always be more and more prepared for that thing to come about.