Let's open with a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for this time you've given us to come and look at your word. We pray that it would be a profitable time, that we would learn something of you and that it might change our lives as we go from here. We ask these things in your blessing on this time. In Jesus name, Amen. I feel a bit as like I have opened what I thought was a small closet to look inside and realized it was bigger than the house and that I was peering into it with only a LED flashlight. So this topic which I started to embark upon has exploded, it probably could be a two-year study or more. So, I certainly will not get it all tied up in a nice, tight bundle for you all today. It may not be a bundle at all. I started with the question, which is probably just purely me being fascinated by it. And that is, okay, God is sovereign and providential in the affairs of men, but my little psyche works like this. I want to ask the question, how does He do that? It may not matter, but it is of interest to me. How does He do that? Another thought came into my mind, and that is, Does God work his will in the nations and individuals here on Earth? Has he ever worked it against their will or? Does God work his purpose, his plan? And man believes that he's doing his own will, which is fascinating to me. Anyway, so in starting to dig through this, I came across a couple of words that in theology are used to sort of categorize this topic. It goes into many different areas, sovereignty of God. But the one that deals most directly is God's providence. So we look at a few definitions of God's or this word providence. This first one is from the 1828 Webster's Dictionary. Providence. It's actually definition three. In theology, the care and superintendence. You think of a superintendent which God exercises over his creatures. And then it says he that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence As soon as I read that, I got to thinking this is Noah Webster immediately in 1828 arguing against the position that he's heard. So even in 1828, there was something afoot. that was, God doesn't work providentially in the lives of men. OK, so he's basically starting to rebut something that you're only aware of from the way he states his definition. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence involves himself in a palpable contradiction. For the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence. So some people would say, yeah, well, God's working out the big stuff, the big details, but he's not working out the little stuff. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence. Not considering that a general providence consists of particulars, meaning you can't work the big picture unless you're working the details that get to the big picture. A belief in divine providence is a source of great consolation to good men, to good men by divine providence is often understood. Excuse me, by divine providence is often understood God himself. Next definition is from the Bible Encyclopedia. It's a little more of a true definition, the doctrine of divine providence, therefore, had reference. To that preservation. Care and government, which God exercises over all things he has created in order that they may, meaning his creation. May accomplish the ends for which they were created, OK? Itís a fascinating topic because immediately in our simple minds we think if weíre doing someone elseís will, we must be robots. We must be a program to be doing someone elseís will. I doubt anyone here would raise their hand and say, ìI have no choices in life. I just only do my program.î So therein opens up this huge topic from, and I'm certainly not going to solve it, like I said, man's free will, God's sovereignty, how it all works together. And if I were to do this better justice, I would have had to spend months. And I can tell you I have not spent months on his preparation for this morning. So we're just going to dig in. There's two definitions. Go to Psalm 22, 28. For the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations. So basically, it's His ownership and He rules over the nations. Second Chronicles 26. We're just going to hit a bunch of verses that will start to give us a a little bit of insight into where we need to go with this. Second Chronicles 20, verse six. Now, this is Jehoshaphat finding out that cities are gathered against him to take him over. Oh, Lord, the God of our fathers. Art thou not God in the heavens and art thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in thy hands so that no one can stand against thee." So here's a recognition that God is in control and in power. Job 12, 23. Job says it very starkly. He, meaning God, makes the nations great then destroys them. He enlarges the nation, then leads them away." How's that for a shocking, stark statement? You know, what ruler nation thinks that that's the way it works? Certainly not at the end of a nation. It's all the circumstances that lead them away and just devour them. God's saying, or Job's saying here, no, God's hand is in it. Isaiah 14.26, verse 25, "...to break Assyria in My land, I will tramp on My mountains. Then His yoke will be removed from them and His burden removed from His shoulders." This is the plan devised against the whole earth. And this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has planned and who can frustrate it? And as for his stretched out hand, who can turn it back? OK, so you read these and you you say, how is this possible? And yet man's will is still intact. It's such an overwhelming statement of, this is my plan. This is what I will do. And yet, think of the thousands of people involved in decision making, right? In a nation. And the myriads, the millions of decisions that are made by those thousands of people, right? Economy, Law, war. I mean, it's just an amazing amount of stuff going on. And God is saying, my hand is here, my plan will be carried out. It's the way it is. OK, Acts 17, 24 through 26. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is He served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things. And He made from one, Adam, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." These verses that you read, you can't escape starkness, conclusiveness, you know, principled statement of this is how it works, Isaiah. 24, I'm sorry, Isaiah 14, 24. We were just there and I should have linked the two together. But Isaiah 14, 24, Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely, just as I have intended, so it has happened. And just as I have planned, so it will stand. OK, so. My initial question was how, right? Now, I'm not going to be able to answer that question conclusively, like I said, but we're going to dig a little deeper. So if the general, as providence works in the general things, and then Noah Webster says, ah, but the general is controlled by the particulars, OK, it comes down to individual decisions, right? It comes down to people. OK, it comes down to some circumstances, certainly, but in many cases, it's like I said, thousands of people. So let's look at people. Proverbs 16, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So man decides the directions he's going to go. But God says the way those steps play out, is me. I'm going to direct him. Verse 10, a divine decision is in the lips of the king. Did you catch that? A divine decision is in the lips of the king. Really? Does the king think he's saying the divine decision? No, he thinks it's his decision. But God says, no, when he speaks, it's my decision. It's a divine decision. His mouth should not err in judgment. 21, verse 1. This is one of the favorites. The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. I'm sure all of you have experienced the situation where the water came out here and you needed it here and the bucket wouldn't get under or there was something in the way and you had this thought, I could just get my hand under there and just guide it that last little bit where I need it, right? That's what God is saying. So this decision that this king is doing is the water. And this hand of the Lord is moving it where He wants. I'll get back to my original question. How is He doing that? I don't have an answer, but we can say what affects men? How do we make our decisions? I like the idea of the channel of water because a channel, what guides a channel is banks, right? Limitations, okay? So he can guide your decisions in that he limits your decisions, right? The channels don't allow you to jump out and go over here. That is not an option, okay? Your options, usually when we make decisions, we make decisions that are limited by options, okay? So, there's one way. How many of our decisions are made based on, when it comes right down to it, a really small thing inside of us? a feeling sometimes, or an urging, or a desire. A desire can easily pull us in a certain direction. Anyway, throwing those few things out there. Let me just read this so we can get through these. Daniel 2.21, and it is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. Romans 9.17, for the Scripture says to Pharaoh, Now, Pharaoh, of course, is the wonderful illustration of this providence of God. Because you see this man who, as you read through it, you find he says, and the Lord hardened his heart, and then he said he would not let the people go. And then after the plague, he said he would. And then he changed his mind and hardened his heart. And we sometimes look at Pharaoh and we say, how did that happen? And why didn't he just let them go? But yet Pharaoh, every time he came to a decision, he did it with his own mind and will, whether it be from outside counsel, whether it be from how he felt that morning, whether it be whatever it might be, his wife talking to him. You don't know. He said, no, I'm changing my mind. But in Romans 9, it says, for the Scripture says to Pharaoh, OK, so a commentary to the man who made the decisions for this very purpose, I raised you up. What purpose? To demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Why did Pharaoh do what he did so that Pharaoh might be raised up? so that God would be raised up and that it would show God's power. And you can say, well, how did that happen? Well, what is it, 2011? I'm talking about it. Number two is when we read later in Scripture when Israel heads into Promised Land, Canaan, people who they come up against, the first one being Jericho, they are told We know of you. We heard of you coming and what you did to the Egyptians. Right? Everyone's in fear here. Okay? His name was proclaimed throughout the whole earth at that time. And we're still talking about it today. What got them to Egypt? So you could do an incredible look at the story of Joseph, right? Being sold into slavery by the brothers, thrown in the pit. One brother says, no, they want to sell him, excuse me, kill him. That would have been the end of it, right? One brother says, no, let's not kill him, let's sell him to the slave traders. One little decision, one counsel. How did he get that? Compassion in his heart, whatever it was, Joseph is able to say later, you meant it for evil. God meant it for good, meaning you're working of evil. Making those decisions all the way along is what God used to get me here that is now saving my whole family from a famine years later. Genesis. Forty one, twenty five. What changed the history for at least 14, no, way more than 14 years, but directly for 14 years in Egypt. A pharaoh who by their culture extremely valued dreams to be very serious. So you had to have that in the Egyptian culture. So God works through that, gives Pharaoh a dream, right? Skinny cows, fat cows, sheaves. OK. Now, Joseph said to Pharaoh, Pharaoh's dreams are one in the same. God has told to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Verse 32, now, as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, It means that the matter is determined by God and God will quickly bring it about. So think of the amazing thing here. Here is a unbelieving Pharaoh who decides that a dream is important enough to seek interpretation. And then by God's providence, Joseph is moved into that position of interpretation of the dream because of his prior interpretation in prison, right? And then the amazing thing is Pharaoh listens. Not only does he listen, he takes action, which is not small action. I mean, building storehouses and saving up grain for seven years in the land of Egypt is a major undertaking, OK? economically, politically, OK, decides to listen to this man that just came out of a prison. OK. And we're going to find a little later here that there are people who don't listen when they're told what the future is going to hold. OK, so anyway, amazing there. Then as they head into the promised land, Joshua. So let's go there. Joshua 1120. He's working his way. Through the land and every one of these peoples, except for you find out later some that made peace agreements, but. Many of these nations that Israel came up against. You find that they're wanting to fight. They're ready to do battle and do war. OK, so Joshua 1120 says, for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. So these nations, you read the verse before it. They made peace with the sons of excuse me, made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites living in Gibeon. They took them all in battle. Why did they take them all in battle, all these nations, how? Says, for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. to meet Israel in battle in order that He might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, that He might destroy them just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So how did these nations come up against Israel? We're going after them. They had to decide to fight. Most of them decided to fight Israel. And God's saying here, the way and the reason that happened, was, that was my plan, and I hardened their hearts so that they would come down. How did he do that? I don't know. But it's very fascinating. Then you've got Samson, who his mother and father can't figure out. And in Judges 14.4, it says, however, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. So, they understand that This was in Samson to do it from the Lord. Now, at that time, the Philistines were ruling over Israel. I like this one. Here's a way God made a major route and changed the course of history. 2 Kings 7-6, For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, behold, the King of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. And they rose and fled in the twilight, left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, even the camp just as it was and fled for their lives." What? A whole? Military campaign is decided on that these people hear a great rumbling that sounds like more than the Israelites. Well, who could it be? It must be the Hittites. Right? Conclusions drawn. Decisions made based on a sound. How did God do the sound? I don't know. Maybe the shape of the valley they were in was just the right to focus it right where they were. They didn't think of that and said, we're out of here, OK? I had the privilege of meeting a missionary and have lunch with him a couple of times when I was at the church in Texas. His name was Stan and Charlotte Myers. I emailed Charlie this morning and found out that Stan Myers is now in a nursing home and his wife passed away three and a half years ago. This story he told, He was a very humble guy and you didn't get stories out of him, but one day at lunchtime he just said, yeah. He was an eye doctor and had a clinic in a small village in Africa. Spent his whole life, he and his wife, were there missionary time in Africa. That was his work, providing glasses for people to be able to see. There was some tribal problem. The enemy tribe decided to burn their village. The clinic was in jeopardy, so he and a few people went out. They pushed some barriers up, just like tumbleweed kind of stuff in front of the clinic just to try to surround it, but he just knew it was futile. There were torches and everything was burning. The whole village began to burn and as these enemy fighters or tribespeople came through, they just skipped the clinic and they burned the whole village. And so, and of course, they were in prayer that the clinic would be spared. And they just couldn't, they just thought it's a miraculous thing of the Lord that they didn't. And so initially the thought was that they had seen the value of the clinic for treating people's eyes and just spared the missionaries from the fire. But later he had occasion to ask, I think it was two or three of the men that were involved in that burning. And he asked, why did you not burn our village or my clinic? Why did you not burn the clinic? And he said, each person responded, it was burning. When we looked at the clinic, it was burning. I think of this story of the sound in the We hear the great. So here he worked in the ears and there he worked in the eyes. Every time we looked at the clinic, it was already burning. There was no need to go over there. So amazing. You know, were they mistaken? Obviously. What did they see? I don't know. Right. Flames behind it. What was it? Whatever it was, whether it was just flat out, God showed them a burning building that wasn't there. I don't know, but it caused the whole clinic to be saved. Ezra 1-4, I'm just going to read it. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. King of Persia had already conquered the land. Just one day, the Lord stirs up His Spirit. How? I don't know. He did. And here's what came out of that Spirit stirring. So He sent a proclamation throughout all of His kingdom and also put it in writing saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, He knows it's not his God of this God's people. May his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And every survivor at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with gold and silver. Give these people money so that they can go and do this work. which is goods and cattle together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem." I think of the divine decision is in the mouth of the King. He made this proclamation, and I'll bet you a week before, he didn't know anything about it. How he got to the place where he wanted this? What moved men's hearts? What moved men's spirits? In Isaiah, it says, the Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion. They have led Egypt astray in all that it does as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. A spirit of distortion. There's three verses I found that says God put fear. into people. This is Deuteronomy 2.25, "...this day will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who when they hear the report of you shall tremble and be in anguish because of you." I'm going to make them fear you. How did that happen? Well, it was pretty fearful what Israel did to the Egyptians. And when they saw that the whole Egyptian army couldn't do anything, that was part of it, I'm sure. At the point when Israel turns to the Lord, Jeremiah 32, 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me. So the fear of the Lord will be injected into them. Here's God talking about a king in Judges 4, 7. And I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Javan's army with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand." There's a word. I will draw him out. How do you draw him out? Do you know how much wealth they have that we can take? We're going. Whatever it is. I mean, it can be such a small thing, right? That could draw a man out to battle. They don't have any defenses. Right? It could be the smallest of reports. The word entice. This is one I wanted to get to because this is just fun. 2 Chronicles 18 and 11. Now what I like about this one is this. I had this naive thought as a kid. If you could just know what his plan was, then you could do something opposite. Right? If you could know, if he could give you the information, then it would be easy to do something that would ruin his whole plan. Right? So, he has to keep that information tight-lipped about what he's going to do. No, no. It's a bit more complex than that. 1811, and all the prophets were prophesying, thus saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and succeed, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. So they're trying to decide whether to go to battle. And these prophets that are employed by the king are saying, we're giving you the words from God, go up, you're going to be successful. Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah, now there was one that they knew that Micaiah was a different kind of prophet. He was in prison because they never liked what he said. So this messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, Behold, the words of the prophets, meaning these ones that have already prophesied, are uniformly favorable to the king. Let me just give you some information. I know you've been down here in prison, but we're going to call you up. We're going to ask you what the Lord prophesies. We've talked to these other prophets and they're all in agreement, you should go out. Okay? Just want to let you know that. Micaiah. So please let your words be like one of them and speak favorably. But Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak. And when he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I refrain? Micaiah says, or he says, go up and succeed, for they will be given in your hand. So he just agrees with the other prophets. Now, guess what? He said, I will only speak what God tells me to speak. God told him to speak that. Yeah, tell him, go up, just like all the other prophets. Then the king said to him, how many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? He knew that would not be what Micaiah was going to say. So here's what Micaiah says. So he said, I saw Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace. Then the king of Israel said to Joseph, did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. Now, this is what is amazing. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left. This is a big deal in heaven. And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab, king of Israel, to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said this while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, how? And he said, I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all His prophets. Then he said, you are to entice Him and prevail, also go and do so. What? He gives him insight into the throne room of God and says, here's what I saw. I saw God saying, how do I get Him up there? And His Spirit says, I'll do it. And He says, how will you do it? And He says, I will talk to all those Prophets, and I will deceive them and they will say, go up. I mean, if there was ever a time to say, that's kind of what happened. You know, all these other prophets said we should go up there. And this is the guy that we usually speak for the Lord, even though we don't like it. Right. So here's my little theory, right? If you just know what's planned for you, you can avoid it. Not these people. They were there. He gave them such a detailed account of how this happened. This does not happen in our lives, right? We don't get this kind of insight from heaven. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of these, your prophets, for the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you. Then Zedekiah, son of Cana came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, how did the Spirit of the Lord pass? from me to speak to you." And Micaiah said, remember, that's deceiving, right? So he's trying to figure out how he what he thought was from God in that statement that he made to the king is now he's saying isn't. How did I lose this ability to speak? Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you enter an inner room to hide yourself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, return him to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, Thus says the king, Put this man in prison and feed him sparingly with bread and water until I return safely. Yeah, we don't believe you, basically. I'm going to come back just fine. Micaiah said, if you indeed return safely, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, listen, all you people, meaning this is the parting words of Micaiah are listen, all you people, remember what I said. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up against Ramoth Gilead and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Here's the plan to foil God's working in heaven. I will disguise myself and go into battle. But you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and they went into battle. The king of Aram had commanded the captains of his chariot saying, do not fight with great should be small or great, but with the king of Israel alone. So it came about when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat Dressed up like King of Israel, they said, is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God diverted them from him. The disguise is no longer effective. Or at least the other side of the disguise, which was to look like the king of Israel, then it happens when the captains of the chariot saw that it was not the king of Israel. that they turned back from pursuing Him. Now, this verse 33, we've read it before, but with the context of what you know from the beginning of the chapter. And a certain man drew his bow at random. He made the decision. His brain said, pull. Right? I am shooting an arrow for whatever reason at this very instant moment. drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel." He did not know he was shooting for the joint of the armor. He did not know he was shooting for the king of Israel. "...struck the king of Israel in the joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of the chariot, turn around and take me out of the fight, for I am severely wounded. And the battle raged that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot in front of the Arameans until the evening, and at sunset he died." He had the information, right? He got a look into the very center of heaven where decisions are made. He was told what those decisions were. He was told how he was going to be deceived. It didn't matter. Now, there's one-dimensional things, right? A dot. There's two-dimensional things, a line. There's three-dimensional things which now take three-dimensional shape. control and power on levels that we don't even... I mean, as you read this, you just can't even fathom all of the things that are going on. If you can't come away with this saying that God is in control, you know, wholeheartedly, there's just nowhere else to go. I guess we're done. I did have a whole other section here, which I wanted to touch on, but I want to touch on it just briefly. I'm not going to do any verses or anything. But this notion of I will know God's will in my life by. whether he allows me to pursue something or he doesn't, it runs in stark contrast to this. Because if we take Job, for example, he was being tempted by the devil and didn't know it. If I choose something and I get my hands slapped and my feet stomped on, I can't go that way. he would have to conclude that following the Lord is not the way to go. Because that's what he was doing up until the point where his whole world collapsed. Now certainly if we pursue something and we just are not allowed to go there, we can say, I wasn't allowed to go there. But there's many people that say, Well, I'm going to decide whether I should do this and I'm just going to go that way until I'm either prevented from doing so or I'm going to know it's God's will. And James Dobson has written some things in this line, and there's deceiving spirits out there. OK, there's I think Christians, if we base where we're going on whether it's a smooth sailing track, we're in danger. Because the smooth sailing track can often be the easiest, simple one. And the hardest things in life that we're going to have to fight through trouble after trouble after trouble, could be God's perfect will for us. And if you were to say, as I don't know the right word, as as flippant as this may sound, if Christ were to have said, anytime I face opposition, I know that's not God's will for me. Right, that that's all he faced was opposition, if Jeremiah would have said, I'm going to decide whether the Lord's will in my life is the successfulness of my ministry. Trouble. And many churches are doing that. If they're not growing, they must be not in God's will. If they're growing, they're in God's will. Well, guess what? That is not the criteria for whether or not you're in God's will. And so to end. What are we supposed to be doing to find God's will? 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. It has a purpose, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. This is what his will is for us, to be in his word, to be learning it, and that way we can know whether a course is right or a course is wrong, and it may be the difficult one that is the correct course, and the easiest one is the wrong one. So the Scripture is where we need to be, not on feelings, right? You know, I felt like this is where I should go. OK, we need to be basing it on Scripture because it's our only safe place. All right. Let's let's close in prayer. Father, I thank you for this day, this time to look at your word. And I pray that we would indeed. See as clearly as those have in the past that you are in control of this world, this creation, our lives, and that we would glorify you in it and be who we're supposed to be wherever you put us, Lord. We ask these things and safety for my parents return home. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.