Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Last Sunday, we were blessed to have Rev. Dr. Patrick Lau, a Missionary of the Gospel - currently serving as Academic Dean of the Macau Bible Institute - and our dear brother in Christ, grace our pulpit in ministering the living Word of God to us.
To this, Rev. Lau exhorted us to contemplate God’s big picture of which our lives are indelibly and inherently a part of.
Knowingly or unknowingly, clarity, control and certainty are essential drivers for us, as we navigate the waters of life.
Ideally, each of us would very much like for our lives’ enterprises and purposes to be clear.
Life is short.
Clarity allows us to focus on the important aspects of our lives, preventing us from wasting time on the superfluous.
That’s all good, except that the chief reason for which we desire clarity in life - is so that we can have a semblance of control over our lives.
This ‘control’ over what we should focus on in life eventually becomes our desperate, and futile, need to have, or maintain control over the outcomes of our lives.
And why do we crave for control over the outcomes in our lives?
It is simply because we yearn for certainty in life.
Certainty.
Now, in of itself, certainty is not a bad thing; except that in reality, certainty of life in which we attempt to have control over, or to have clarity in, is a myth - a grasping of the wind.
Proverbs 27:1 crystallizes this reality for us,
‘Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.’
As Christians, however, we are well aware that our ‘certainty’ must never be established on the ‘what’, but rather, on ‘whom’.
Thus, as Christians, we are aware that our God is Jehovah Jireh - the Lord our Provider.
Philippians 4:19 reveals the crux of our certainty,
‘… …my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’
Herein lies the key to understanding the ‘Providence’ of God.
Providence is God’s hidden office, and is exclusive to Him alone.
Hidden from all of Creation, only God knows the big picture of all life in of itself.
And only God has the ability to supply every need – in knowing exactly and precisely ‘what comes next’ – which is really the cognate definition of ‘Providence’.
God knows what lies ahead.
For the Christian, just because ‘Providence’ as God’s hidden office is hidden from us, we must remain certain that it is nonetheless God’s active office.
We may surmise of the countless reasons why God’s ‘Providence’ is hidden from us – chief of which, is surely due to our sinfulness and unrighteousness; but what is vital, is that we know that our God actively supplies every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
What this really means is simply, regardless of our level of faith, God will definitely supply every need of ours and prepare us for that eventuality - because the glory of Christ Jesus is definite and real.
So, just as the glory of Christ Jesus is the existential, heavenly and universal reality that exists regardless of faith, acknowledgements or recognition, God’s Providence - being cut from that same fabric - is existential, heavenly and universal in reality.
Which is why as our lives in Christ goes, all things does work out for the good of those of love God and who are called to His purposes. (Romans 8:28)
God always provides. He always knows what lies ahead. And if you love God and know that you are called to His purposes, you would begin to understand that through life’s struggles and challenges, God is actually sending you ahead.
God always see us through all of life, including, and especially, the most challenging and painful portions of it.
And if we can’t see God’s purposes in our lives yet, it is because He is not done with us, yet.
Joseph’s life speaks directly to God’s ever-present Providence in our lives – if only you are willing to be assured that despite life’s circumstances and stations, ‘God sends you ahead.’
Read the following passages carefully and observe the single-most divine lesson that Joseph had to learn regarding God’s Providence – from a life of entitlement, to a life of empowerment – forged categorically and veraciously in the crucibles of injustice, grief, pain and suffering.
‘Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Genesis 45:3-8
‘…it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.’
‘But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’
‘So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God’
God sent me ahead.
God used me for His divine purposes.
God provided for me, and through me, God is providing for you.
It was not man’s doing, but God’s.
God sent me ahead.
God’s providence.
It was when Joseph learned this existential truth, life became substantial; life became meaningful and significant.
For Joseph, life became all about ‘in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.’ (Romans 8:28)
All of life – the questions, the uncertainties, the loss of control, the harms, the pain, the injustice, the struggles, the shame, and the sufferings – now made sense to Joseph.
Observe how Joseph learns that life truly becomes meaningful and substantial when solely understood and centered around God’s Providence.
‘But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Genesis 50:19-21
In every moment of injustice, grief, pain and suffering, Joseph’s undeniable loss of clarity, certainty and control in life - which would have been encapsulated in his cries of, “Where are You, God? Why have You left me to suffer this way?” - are answered the moment he laid eyes on his brothers, his very betrayers who set off the chain-reactions in his life which started out in seething treachery - being sold off as a slave by the very people meant to protect him; and culminating in his salvific position as, ‘father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.’
And precisely, when poised indisputably as ‘Savior’ of his Hebrew family – and more extensively – as ‘Savior’ of all Egypt and her neighboring nations, Joseph revealed his most fundamental belief – it was God who sent him; it is God who provides.
Joseph’s narrative is undeniably the fore-shadow of the universal Salvific task of our Lord Jesus Christ;
‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’
Such is the radical life – that even the Son of God surrendered His life to God’s Providence; His Father’s big picture for the redemption of all Creation.
Is there a key to living radically in God’s Providence today?
There is.
And this same Christ, who ultimately died on the Cross at Calvary for the sins of all of humanity, and in rising victoriously from the grave, conquered death itself, reveals the key to living radically in God’s Providence to His followers,
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28
This key is also the Christian’s litmus test if the question of living fully and radically in God’s Providence ever arises:
How do you know that you are living fully and radically in God’s Providence?
Well.
Do you dare say this to your transgressor, ‘you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’?
Can you love your enemies? Or do you, like the rest of the world, simply hate them?
Do you actively do good to those who hate you? Or do you scheme against such people in your life?
Can you bless those who curse you?
Do you pray for those who mistreat you?
Pay attention here.
Understand why Christ’s command to His disciples is so radical; it is plainly because, the mere disregard of such people in your lives, or simply ignoring them, doesn’t make the cut if you truly desire to be Christ’s disciple.
Inaction never amounts to anything.
Christ calls for real action – radical action – towards our transgressors.
Only and only then, will we be able to live in God’s Providence as radical disciples of Jesus Christ tasked with radical imperatives - living fully through all of lives’ challenges and struggles, in utter and unlimited faith and knowledge; that our God provides for our every need, and that our God is sending us ahead.
Selah, and Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
You are our God who gives us our daily bread.
You are our God who provides for our every need according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Father, thank You for revealing to us that this existential reality speaks of Your unlimited Love and Providence for us.
Forgive my sin of doubting Your love for me.
I have sinned against You in my times of suffering, grief, shame and pain – believing that You have forsaken me.
Thank You for revealing to me this day, that though ‘Providence’ is Your invisible office, it is still nonetheless Your active office.
Through life’s struggles, teach me dear God, to learn Your lessons of Providence. And please help me learn them well, and learn them fully.
Forgive me for not believing that You are constantly by my side, carrying my burdens and comforting my spirit.
Lord Jesus, I believe that ‘everything is possible with You.’
And yet, I recognize that my faith is limited. Holy Spirit, please help me overcome my unbelief! (Ref: Mark 9:24)
Teach me, guide me and lead me into the radical life of being an authentic disciple of my Lord Jesus Christ.
Grant me the courage and resolve to say to my betrayers, “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Grant me the courage and resolve to live out Christ’s command of loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, blessing those who curse me, and praying for those who mistreat me.
Holy Spirit, search my heart… reveal to me those whom I must forgive, love, show kindness to, bless and pray for.
And please grant me the wisdom to enact on Christ’s four radical imperatives for me as His disciple.
Father, I yearn for meaning, purpose and significance in my life.
And I know now that this will only come to pass, when I embrace the reality that it is Your Providence - Your big picture for my life – that truly matters.
May I live fully and utterly in Your Providence.
May I live, then, in the absolute and constant knowledge – that You are sending me ahead.
For I know now that even in sending me ahead, You are still with me, beside me, and ahead of me.
I surrender my life to You, O God.
You are, and will always be, My God – in whom I can trust.
I thank You, and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Last Sunday, we were blessed to have Rev. Dr. Patrick Lau, a Missionary of the Gospel - currently serving as Academic Dean of the Macau Bible Institute - and our dear brother in Christ, grace our pulpit in ministering the living Word of God to us.
To this, Rev. Lau exhorted us to contemplate God’s big picture of which our lives are indelibly and inherently a part of.
Knowingly or unknowingly, clarity, control and certainty are essential drivers for us, as we navigate the waters of life.
Ideally, each of us would very much like for our lives’ enterprises and purposes to be clear.
Life is short.
Clarity allows us to focus on the important aspects of our lives, preventing us from wasting time on the superfluous.
That’s all good, except that the chief reason for which we desire clarity in life - is so that we can have a semblance of control over our lives.
This ‘control’ over what we should focus on in life eventually becomes our desperate, and futile, need to have, or maintain control over the outcomes of our lives.
And why do we crave for control over the outcomes in our lives?
It is simply because we yearn for certainty in life.
Certainty.
Now, in of itself, certainty is not a bad thing; except that in reality, certainty of life in which we attempt to have control over, or to have clarity in, is a myth - a grasping of the wind.
Proverbs 27:1 crystallizes this reality for us,
‘Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.’
As Christians, however, we are well aware that our ‘certainty’ must never be established on the ‘what’, but rather, on ‘whom’.
Thus, as Christians, we are aware that our God is Jehovah Jireh - the Lord our Provider.
Philippians 4:19 reveals the crux of our certainty,
‘… …my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’
Herein lies the key to understanding the ‘Providence’ of God.
Providence is God’s hidden office, and is exclusive to Him alone.
Hidden from all of Creation, only God knows the big picture of all life in of itself.
And only God has the ability to supply every need – in knowing exactly and precisely ‘what comes next’ – which is really the cognate definition of ‘Providence’.
God knows what lies ahead.
For the Christian, just because ‘Providence’ as God’s hidden office is hidden from us, we must remain certain that it is nonetheless God’s active office.
We may surmise of the countless reasons why God’s ‘Providence’ is hidden from us – chief of which, is surely due to our sinfulness and unrighteousness; but what is vital, is that we know that our God actively supplies every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
What this really means is simply, regardless of our level of faith, God will definitely supply every need of ours and prepare us for that eventuality - because the glory of Christ Jesus is definite and real.
So, just as the glory of Christ Jesus is the existential, heavenly and universal reality that exists regardless of faith, acknowledgements or recognition, God’s Providence - being cut from that same fabric - is existential, heavenly and universal in reality.
Which is why as our lives in Christ goes, all things does work out for the good of those of love God and who are called to His purposes. (Romans 8:28)
God always provides. He always knows what lies ahead. And if you love God and know that you are called to His purposes, you would begin to understand that through life’s struggles and challenges, God is actually sending you ahead.
God always see us through all of life, including, and especially, the most challenging and painful portions of it.
And if we can’t see God’s purposes in our lives yet, it is because He is not done with us, yet.
Joseph’s life speaks directly to God’s ever-present Providence in our lives – if only you are willing to be assured that despite life’s circumstances and stations, ‘God sends you ahead.’
Read the following passages carefully and observe the single-most divine lesson that Joseph had to learn regarding God’s Providence – from a life of entitlement, to a life of empowerment – forged categorically and veraciously in the crucibles of injustice, grief, pain and suffering.
‘Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Genesis 45:3-8
‘…it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.’
‘But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’
‘So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God’
God sent me ahead.
God used me for His divine purposes.
God provided for me, and through me, God is providing for you.
It was not man’s doing, but God’s.
God sent me ahead.
God’s providence.
It was when Joseph learned this existential truth, life became substantial; life became meaningful and significant.
For Joseph, life became all about ‘in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.’ (Romans 8:28)
All of life – the questions, the uncertainties, the loss of control, the harms, the pain, the injustice, the struggles, the shame, and the sufferings – now made sense to Joseph.
Observe how Joseph learns that life truly becomes meaningful and substantial when solely understood and centered around God’s Providence.
‘But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Genesis 50:19-21
In every moment of injustice, grief, pain and suffering, Joseph’s undeniable loss of clarity, certainty and control in life - which would have been encapsulated in his cries of, “Where are You, God? Why have You left me to suffer this way?” - are answered the moment he laid eyes on his brothers, his very betrayers who set off the chain-reactions in his life which started out in seething treachery - being sold off as a slave by the very people meant to protect him; and culminating in his salvific position as, ‘father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.’
And precisely, when poised indisputably as ‘Savior’ of his Hebrew family – and more extensively – as ‘Savior’ of all Egypt and her neighboring nations, Joseph revealed his most fundamental belief – it was God who sent him; it is God who provides.
Joseph’s narrative is undeniably the fore-shadow of the universal Salvific task of our Lord Jesus Christ;
‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’
Such is the radical life – that even the Son of God surrendered His life to God’s Providence; His Father’s big picture for the redemption of all Creation.
Is there a key to living radically in God’s Providence today?
There is.
And this same Christ, who ultimately died on the Cross at Calvary for the sins of all of humanity, and in rising victoriously from the grave, conquered death itself, reveals the key to living radically in God’s Providence to His followers,
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28
This key is also the Christian’s litmus test if the question of living fully and radically in God’s Providence ever arises:
How do you know that you are living fully and radically in God’s Providence?
Well.
Do you dare say this to your transgressor, ‘you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’?
Can you love your enemies? Or do you, like the rest of the world, simply hate them?
Do you actively do good to those who hate you? Or do you scheme against such people in your life?
Can you bless those who curse you?
Do you pray for those who mistreat you?
Pay attention here.
Understand why Christ’s command to His disciples is so radical; it is plainly because, the mere disregard of such people in your lives, or simply ignoring them, doesn’t make the cut if you truly desire to be Christ’s disciple.
Inaction never amounts to anything.
Christ calls for real action – radical action – towards our transgressors.
- Love your enemies.
- Do good to those who hate you.
- Bless those who curse you.
- Pray for those who mistreat you.
Only and only then, will we be able to live in God’s Providence as radical disciples of Jesus Christ tasked with radical imperatives - living fully through all of lives’ challenges and struggles, in utter and unlimited faith and knowledge; that our God provides for our every need, and that our God is sending us ahead.
Selah, and Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
You are our God who gives us our daily bread.
You are our God who provides for our every need according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Father, thank You for revealing to us that this existential reality speaks of Your unlimited Love and Providence for us.
Forgive my sin of doubting Your love for me.
I have sinned against You in my times of suffering, grief, shame and pain – believing that You have forsaken me.
Thank You for revealing to me this day, that though ‘Providence’ is Your invisible office, it is still nonetheless Your active office.
Through life’s struggles, teach me dear God, to learn Your lessons of Providence. And please help me learn them well, and learn them fully.
Forgive me for not believing that You are constantly by my side, carrying my burdens and comforting my spirit.
Lord Jesus, I believe that ‘everything is possible with You.’
And yet, I recognize that my faith is limited. Holy Spirit, please help me overcome my unbelief! (Ref: Mark 9:24)
Teach me, guide me and lead me into the radical life of being an authentic disciple of my Lord Jesus Christ.
Grant me the courage and resolve to say to my betrayers, “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Grant me the courage and resolve to live out Christ’s command of loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, blessing those who curse me, and praying for those who mistreat me.
Holy Spirit, search my heart… reveal to me those whom I must forgive, love, show kindness to, bless and pray for.
And please grant me the wisdom to enact on Christ’s four radical imperatives for me as His disciple.
Father, I yearn for meaning, purpose and significance in my life.
And I know now that this will only come to pass, when I embrace the reality that it is Your Providence - Your big picture for my life – that truly matters.
May I live fully and utterly in Your Providence.
May I live, then, in the absolute and constant knowledge – that You are sending me ahead.
For I know now that even in sending me ahead, You are still with me, beside me, and ahead of me.
I surrender my life to You, O God.
You are, and will always be, My God – in whom I can trust.
I thank You, and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.