These problems of God’s providential dealings are intelligible only when we consider that Christ is the revealer of God, and that his suffering for sin opens to us the heart of God. All history is the progressive manifestation of Christ’s holiness and love, and in the cross we have the key that unlocks the secret of the universe. With the cross in view, we can believe that Love rules over all, and that “_all things work together for good to them that love God._” (_Rom. 8:28_).
A. A general providential government and control (_a_) over the universe at large; (_b_) over the physical world; (_c_) over the brute creation; (_d_) over the affairs of nations; (_e_) over man’s birth and lot in life; (_f_) over the outward successes and failures of men’s lives; (_g_) over things seemingly accidental or insignificant; (_h_) in the protection of the righteous; (_i_) in the supply of the wants of God’s people; (_j_) in the arrangement of answers to prayer; (_k_) in the exposure and punishment of the wicked.
(_a_) _Ps. 103:19_—“_his kingdom ruleth over all_”; _Dan. 4:35_—“_doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth_”; _Eph. 1:11_—“_worketh all things after the counsel of his will._”
(_b_) _Job 37:5, 10_—“_God thundereth ... By the breath of God ice is given_”; _Ps. 104:14_—“_causeth the grass to grow for the cattle_”; _135:6, 7_—“_Whatsoever Jehovah pleased, that hath he done, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps ... vapors ... lightnings ... wind_”; _Mat. 5:45_—“_maketh his sun to rise ... sendeth rain_”; _Ps. 104:16_—“_The trees of Jehovah are filled_”—are planted and tended by God as carefully as those which come under human cultivation; _cf._ _Mat. 6:30_—“_if God so clothe the grass of the field._”
(_c_) _Ps. 104:21, 28_—“_young lions roar ... seek their food from God ... that thou givest them they gather_”; _Mat. 6:26_—“_birds of the heaven ... your heavenly Father feedeth them_”; _10:29_—“_two sparrows ... not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father._”
(_d_) _Job 12:23_—“_He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive_”; _Ps. 22:28_—“_the kingdom is Jehovah’s; And he is the ruler over the nations_”; _66:7_—“_He ruleth by his might for ever; His eyes observe the nations_”; _Acts 17:26_—“_made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation_” (instance Palestine, Greece, England).