WEDNESDAY'S WORD - PROVIDENCE - Sadell Bradley 11/19/14

Providence is the protective care of God as a spiritual power.  It is also timely preparation for
future eventualities. It derives from the Latin word providere - to foresee, or attend to.  To provide means to make available for use; to supply; to make adequate preparation for a possible event; to supply sufficient money to ensure the maintenance of someone.  

The Bible is about God's providence.  We see account after account of the Lord's protective care, ample provision, and preparation of His people for future eventualities: 

• In Genesis 6-10, God had Noah preach repentance to the wicked people of the time for 126 years and prepare an Ark for rain and a flood that had never been seen on the earth to save his family and the species of animals.  
• Through Joseph's prophetic ministry and subsequent reign, God protected all of Israel and other nations from a time of famine.  Genesis 37-50
• In Exodus, the Lord prepared Moses to free Israel from the hand of Egypt, and provided manna, water and quail for millions during their 40 year wilderness wandering.  
• In Judges, Samson was chosen to provide deliverance through supernatural powers that were Divinely given him.  Judges 13-16
• Esther was sent on mission through a beauty contest to become Queen of a country so that when trouble was to come to the Jews, they would have someone of influence in place with the King.  Book of Esther
• Daniel was protected from the lions in the lion's den after he took a stand by continuing to serve Jehovah in prayers and worship.  His friends the Hebrew boys were saved out of the king's fiery furnace by the Lord Jesus who was in the fire with them to save them.  Daniel 1-6

I could go on and on and on.  What we would call small things like the metal axe head miraculously swimming on the water so that Elisha's servant who'd borrowed it would not be enslaved by debt; (2 Kings 6)  or large things like the provision of 20,000 meals for men, women and children by the lunch of a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Whether in Scripture or our own lives, we have seen God's providential hand at work at one time or another. As a matter of worship it is good to recall and appreciate those times as evidence of God's faithfulness to us!

To go deeper, God foresaw and made adequate preparation for our sin issue through Jesus, the

spotless Lamb of God who was described as being 'slain before the foundation of the world.' (1 Peter 1:18-21; Rev. 13:8) He entered the earth through the miraculous conception of the virgin Mary and with the seed of the Holy Spirit.  (Luke 1:26-38) Before Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit committing the first sin (Genesis 3), God had made a way for their sin and ours to be forgiven and released! For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:17)

Last night I dreamed about a lady calling me in for a job.  They gave me a spacious place to live, then asked me to report to another location. It was a school and I was going to take graduate courses in graphic design.  I had never even taken undergraduate courses in that field, but the boss responded that they had seen a copy of some work I'd done casually and had chosen me specifically for this program.  The housing was paid.  The coursework was paid, and I was to be paid.  My job was to learn to create from one of the foremost artistic schools in the world!  I believe that dream was to reassure me in this season about God's Divine Providence.  I hope it blesses you too!