GOD’S PROVIDENCE: PRESERVING AND GUIDING HIS CREATION

According to Millard J. Erickson “while creation is God’s originating work with respect to the Universe, providence is His continuing relationship to it. By providence we mean the continuing action of God by which He preserves in existence the creation He has brought into being, and guides it to His intended purposes for it.”1 I believe that God has continued His work in the Universe by being its Great Provider, by preserving and guiding His creation to His intended purposes!

His Providence as preservation is seen in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament we see God giving Abraham great possessions and promising the same for his offspring, through his son Isaac (Genesis 15: 18-21) where He gives them land which today is Israel and also his offspring through Ishmael (Genesis 21:19-21) where he gives them land in the wilderness of Paran which today is Mecca and part of southern Saudi Arabia.

Another example in the Old Testament, God is seen providing the Israelite’s needs of food during the great famine while they were in Egypt; at this time God had already set Joseph as a government official in Egypt, who was able to provide the food needed for his family! Because of this, Israel as a nation was preserved! (Genesis 45-46). In the New Testament Jesus teaches about not being anxious for food, clothing or shelter , for God will provide for a person’s every need. He gives the example of how God clothes the grass of the field, how He feed the birds of the air, so then how much more will He not dress and feed us! But that a person is to seek first the kingdom of God! (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus, also is Provider of His creation, when He shows the miracle of the multiplication of bread and fish: He feeds five thousand with just five barley loaves and two fish! (John 6: 1-15). This provision is supernatural in origin , a miracle!

NOTES

1Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology,(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006),413