Chapter 4: Providence, Suffering, and Miracles

IN THIS CHAPTER you will discover:
·   Providence as God's guardianship of His creation.
·   Answers to why there is human suffering.
·   A biblical view of miracles.
·   The place of miracles in today's world.

AS A RESULT, you will be able to:
·   Realize how God provides for you through His creation.
·   Comprehend the place of suffering in your life.
·   Distinguish between true and false miracles.
·   Believe for miracles to happen in your life now.

Key Scripture: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matt. 10:29-30).

Key Words: Providence, Common Grace

The doctrine of providence is a necessary corollary to the doctrine of creation. For what God has made, He must sustain. Providence means God's overseeing care and guardianship for His creation. He did not create the universe to run on its own. His care is particular and personal as our Key Scripture affirms. Providence, however, is not blind optimism about the world. It realistically considers the complexities of creation. Thus, pain and suffering are recognized as necessary aspects of life itself. Finally, it is a matter of revelation and faith. The natural man only views fate and fortune at work in the world's affairs. The man of faith sees God's involvement with nations, cultures, families" and individuals. Scripture and experience confirm that "this is my Father's world."

God preserves His creation. Paul states that "in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:17). Whether the solar system, the earth's atmosphere, even the atom itself, God is "sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Heb. 1:3). Such preservation of the natural world surely extends to human existence. God created our bodies to be fragile vessels. Surely, the synchronism of brain waves, breath, and pulse testifies that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

God preserves His living creatures through the bounty of this earth. The cycle of seasons with rainfall and snow ensures a plenteous harvest to sustain humans and animals. Such sustenance is called common grace, because God's benevolence benefits both saint and sinner. Believers especially are promised that our "heavenly Father knows that you need them [food and clothing]" (Matt. 6:32). God, who has spiritually blessed us in Christ, also promises to meet our physical needs.

Through danger and peril God delivers us. Whether avoidance of a traffic accident or escape from a tornado, God is present to protect. Paul once used his deliverance from a snakebite to witness to the living God (Acts 28:1-10). God also promises spiritual protection for His children. Neither Satan nor temptation should cause us to fall. Jesus continually intercedes for our preservation from evil. God in His providence is our physical and spiritual protector.

God personally accompanies His people in providence. At creation His Spirit hovered over the waters. At man's creation He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. In the garden He walked with Adam and Eve in fellowship. Throughout the Old Testament God accompanied His people no matter what the mission. This is graphically illustrated in the life of Moses. He said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" God simply replied, "I will be with you" (Ex. 3:11,12).

God supremely manifested His personal presence at the Incarnation. The name Immanuel, which was given to Jesus, means "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). Jesus displayed God's personal concern for all people. Before His return to heaven, He promised to be with His disciples forever (Matt. 28:20). This is God's personal commitment to His people: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Heb. 13:5).

Creation, as stated in our previous lesson, was made to display God's glory. God directs His creation to fulfill that purpose. Despite humanity's fall in the garden, God turned the tables on Satan. He used the temptation to announce the serpent's eventual defeat (Gen. 3:15) and thus initiated His saving purposes. Babel, the Flood, the bondage in Egypt - no matter what evil befell His people, God overruled the circumstances in their favor. Israel's history, whether up or down, was directed by God. Often He used heathen nations to achieve His ends. God calls the ungodly king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, "my servant" (Jer. 25:9).

God's direction never denies free will, nor excuses evil actions. Let us look at Pharaoh’s example. God told Moses, "I will harden Pharaoh’s heart" (Ex. 7:3). When Moses later appealed to Pharaoh for Israel's release, the Bible says Pharaoh "hardened his heart" (8:15, 32). Which was it? "Both" is the answer. God in His foreknowledge knew what Pharaoh's response would be. He simply reinforced Pharaoh's decision to refuse Moses' plea. God used Pharaoh's resistance to display His splendor to the polytheistic Egyptians. The ten plagues directly challenged their gods and proved the superiority of the God of Moses. Israel's release was thus assured.

The crucifixion of Jesus further illustrates this point. The collusion of the Roman authorities and the Jewish religious leaders to kill Jesus was an illegal and heinous act. Yet their actions accomplished what God's "power and will had decided beforehand should happen" (Acts 4:28). What a marvel that God allowed such wickedness to accomplish His purposes! The book of Revelation records the diabolical forces that will conspire in the last days to gain world dominion. Yet John's revelation is not about the beasts or the Antichrist, but about Jesus who reigns as Lord. He controls even the earth's final evil days before He returns to rule and reign forever.

Believers can draw much comfort from the knowledge of God's providence. Often the circumstances of life appear dark and negative, and God seems to have disappeared from the scene. Yet Scripture affirms that He is working good in everything we encounter if we are serving Him (Rom. 8:28). Our next study on suffering continues to probe this vital topic.

Personal Application: Has God recently protected you from an accident or injury? Can you recall other examples of God's providential care in your life?

Group Application: Consider God's providence in history, starting with Abraham, Israel, and the early church. Can God's providence be seen in world affairs today?

Key Scripture: "But we also rejoice in our sufferings, be cause we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Rom. 5:3-4).

Key Word: Theodicy

"Why do the righteous suffer?" is a question God's people have asked throughout the ages. Unbelievers often ask, "How can there be a good God with so much suffering in the world?" Such questions will be discussed in this important lesson on suffering. God's providence perhaps suggests a carefree and trouble-free world. Yet, from experience we know that this is not true. Is God unwilling or unable to control His creation? The attempt to defend God's goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil and suffering is called theodicy.

There are three reasons believers suffer:

First, suffering is a part of God's created order. Man's dominion over the earth involves toil and labor. Work in itself can produce sprained muscles and tired limbs. Such pain is not punishment, but signals positively the limits of human endurance. The laws of nature can bring pain if violated. To step off a high place or put your hand in a flame will bring pain. Both gravity and fire are beneficial, but to abuse them invites injury.

Within all human relationships there are "growing pains." Marriage, the most intimate human relationship, requires continual adjustments. Misunderstanding and miscommunication are a part of becoming "one flesh." These are normal in marriage, though trials often result. Also, pain is often a part of human challenge and discovery. Such explorers as Columbus, Jedediah Smith, and Edmund Hillary relate deprivation and pain as elements of their adventures. True heroism involves hardship and suffering.

Even our bodies suggest that suffering is a part of creation. God could have made our nervous system to feel only pleasure. However, we do feel pain. Tear ducts enable us to express our feelings of emotion. Often true love and compassion result from suffering. Paul beautifully expresses this relationship: "We know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort" (2 Cor. 1:7). Compassion, by its very definition, means "to suffer with."

Second, suffering also can result from sin and evil. It is an effect of human disobedience and often a punishment for sin. After the Fall, God multiplied Eve's childbearing pains and cursed Adam's gardening. God's punishment was not birth or work in itself, but the excessive toil and labor associated with them. The earth, which God had declared was good, now experienced curse and corruption. The ferocity of animals and the turbulence of nature resulted from the curse of sin.

Cain is an early example of this relationship of sin and suffering. After murdering his brother Abel, Cain was sentenced by God to be an outcast of society. The legacy of human suffering in Scripture often follows a pattern of disobedience. The Flood brought death to all but Noah and his family. And Judah's sin brought the destruction of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon. Tragedy characterizes the penalty for society's corporate sins. Much human pain results from our own personal sin. We have sown evil and thus reap suffering. It is not God's fault that we hurt. Other factors that contribute to human pain and sickness are poor eating habits, lack of exercise, worry, and unforgiveness. God permits such pain to warn us to change our ways.

The suffering that results from God's judgment is designed to lead us to righteousness. Suffering, however, is not necessarily in direct proportion to the amount of sin. No simple correspondence exists between the two. To illustrate this point, Jesus told a story of eighteen persons killed in an accident (Luke 13:4-5). Their deaths were not indicative of their great sin, for they were no better or worse than other people. Rather, their deaths were a warning to others to repent before it was too late. The crash of a plane or a disaster at sea are not cause to point fingers. Rather, they call us to repent from sin and to turn to God. Every person will one day stand before God's judgment seat. Suffering jars us from our complacency and thrusts life's ultimate issues of sin, salvation, and eternity before us.

Third, suffering accompanies the life of a believer. Often it is a means to spiritual growth. Adversity is not a pleasant experience. However, character is developed as God proves our faith. Our response in such situations is critical. We are not to assign blame or grumble. Instead, we are to "be joyful always" and "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess. 5:16,17). Jesus "learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). Paul also suffered greatly for his faith. He listed his numerous sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12, concluding: "For Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (12:10). Like gold tested by fire, suffering refines our character for God's glory.

The follower of Jesus Christ is to expect suffering. In fact, this is a promise of Scripture: "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12). Jesus also promised it to His disciples: "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). The New Testament states that such persecution is a blessing and cause for rejoicing. The Beatitudes declare that the persecuted are blessed. Startlingly, suffering for the gospel is a gift of God. Suffering's agent, however, is often Satan. The Bible's classic story of suffering is Job. His comforters suggested various reasons for this righteous man's suffering. If we were not first given a peek behind the scenes, their accusations would appear valid. But Satan caused Job's problems with the permission of God. In the book of Revelation Satan also is the inciter of persecution. But again, his authority is given by God. At Christ's return, Satan is removed from his role as persecutor of the church.

The believer draws closer to Christ through suffering. We share in the fellowship of His suffering. Those who suffer are better able to comfort and help others. One who has known pain is sensitized to the pain of others. Through suffering we share in Christ's resurrection glory. While we might taste glory in this life, it is at death that Christ's glory is fully realized. And pain often accompanies the death of our bodies. Martyrdom is the ultimate in Christian suffering. Stephen at his stoning saw God's glory as he beheld Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne (Acts 7:55). John saw the church's martyrs standing around the throne, worshipping the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-14). Most of us will not have to suffer unto death like Jesus and the apostles. Yet to suffer in life is the lot of all believers. Blessing and glory are promised to all who triumph through it!

Personal Application: How has the Holy Spirit clarified your understanding of suffering? Have you ever been persecuted for your faith?

Group Application: Discuss the three ways in which believers suffer. Share an example of each from your own Christian life.

Key Scripture: "But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (John 10:38).

Key Words: Deism, Wonder; Sign, Power; Works

We consider miracles next because they are examples of God's extraordinary providence. Williams defines a miracle as "an event manifesting divine activity that is other than the ordinary processes of nature" (p. 141) .The Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments abound with miracles. In your Further Study in the NIVTSB, you will discover numerous examples. Such events as an axhead floating (2 Kings 6:1-7) or water turning to wine (John 2:1-10) do not happen naturally. God normally maintains the laws of His created order. But at times He chooses to use extraordinary means to accomplish His purposes.

Philosophical and scientific opposition to miracles results from a view of the world as a closed system. Thus, miracles cannot occur because the universe is self-contained and man is self-subsistent. Such a view leaves little room for God and is contrary to Scripture. God's normal method of provision is mediate; that is, He works through the course of nature. To get food, man plants his seed in season. With rainfall and sun, the crop matures and is harvested. God thus provides through the growing cycle of nature. However, God can act through immediate means (apart from normal) to feed His people. He fed Israel in the wilderness with manna, and shut the lions' mouths for Daniel. These are miracles. God also may combine mediate and immediate means. When Jesus fed the multitudes, He took bread and fish (the mediate) and multiplied them to feed the thousands (the immediate).

The basis of miracles is in God. He is free to transcend His natural laws whenever He pleases. They are subject to Him, and not vice versa. Pantheism views God and nature as identical. It believes God cannot transcend the created world, and thus His actions are bound by natural law.

Miracles cannot occur then. Scripture affirms that God created the world and is not identical with it. Thus God is free to do whatever whenever with His creation.

Miracles frequently occur as an expression of God's love. The miracles that occurred during Israel's exodus from Egypt resulted from God's mercy for His people. Jesus also responded to the needs of the people with love. He fed, cleansed, and healed them. He raised their dead because of His compassion. The acts of the apostles were done out of similar motives. Deism opposes miracles because it views God as aloof and withdrawn from the universe. The world now runs on its own. Providence and miracles are thus foreign to the God of deism. Again, such a view is unscriptural. We should expect miracles from a God who loves His world and is involved with His people.

All miracles are a demonstration of God's power. The Bible uses such anthropomorphisms as "right hand" and "out-stretched arm" to illustrate His might. God, on occasion, uses sovereign power to express the love He feels for His people. Without the ten plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh would never have released the Israelites from bondage. Two miracles in the Bible epitomize God's mighty power -- the Incarnation and the Resurrection. Through them God inaugurated His kingdom, providing salvation for all people. Jeremiah in his prayer declared: "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you" (32:17). NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR YOU - our God of power and miracles!

The Bible uses several words to describe miracles. A miracle is, first, a wonder. This reflects the typical reaction of astonishment and amazement to God's activity. A miracle has no reasonable explanation. Wonder is always linked with sign in the New Testament. Sign refers to an extraordinary occurrence that is supernatural. Miraculous signs are pointers to the God behind them. Our Key Scripture highlights this fact. John in his Gospel frequently uses this word for Jesus' actions.

Power is another word for miracle. Earlier we spoke of God's power in a general sense as the background for miracles. The New Testament also uses power in a specific sense for individual miracles. Both Jesus and His disciples worked great powers for the people. Our final word is works, which is mainly used in the Gospel of John. John closely associates this word with the miracles of Jesus. When John the Baptist sent representatives to Jesus inquiring about His works, Jesus told the emissaries to tell the Baptist about the miracles he was performing. Wonders, signs, whatever we call them -- the Gospels depict Jesus as a miracle-working Savior.

Personal Application: Have you ever experienced a miracle? If so, how did it affect your relationship with God? Have you told anyone how God performed this miracle in your life?

Group Application: Discuss the effect the miracles of Jesus had on bystanders. Which miracles are particularly impressive to you, and why?

Key Scripture: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well" (Mark 16:17-18).

Many liberal theologians have labeled miracles, whether biblical or present-day, as myths. This position largely reflects the modern scientific worldview. The resistance to present day miracles among certain fundamentalists and evangelicals stems from other reasons. Our reading assignment gives a historical overview of miracles in the Protestant church since the Reformation. This survey shows why many conservative Christians believe miracles ceased with the New Testament period. Thus, they do not expect miracles to occur today.

Martin Luther believed that the day of miracles was past. Miracles were necessary for the apostolic church to establish the gospel. Since the church now had the preaching of the gospel, the Scriptures, and the sacraments, Luther held that miracles were no longer needed. John Calvin also believed that miracles were temporary, ceasing with the early church. He thought that the Holy Spirit was given for salvation, and thus miracles related to the Spirit's reception were no longer necessary. John Wesley taught that divine miracles ceased because of Christianity's corruption, when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century A.D. Wesley taught that miracles could reappear upon human repentance. He witnessed miracles in his own ministry and believed that they were still possible. In his book, Counterfeit Miracles, B. B. Warfield popularized the notion that miracles ceased with the apostles. His ideas have heavily influenced contemporary opponents of miracles. 

The overwhelming testimony of the Bible is that miracles should continue. Our Key Scripture speaks of the ongoing ministry of believers with accompanying signs and miracles. Casting out demons, speaking in tongues, and healing the sick are depicted as normative for Christian ministry in all ages. Jesus affirmed this in John 14:12 with two amazing statements: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Such wonderful promises are possible, because Jesus ascended to the Father and is now seated at His right hand in authority!

Did the early church experience these promises of Jesus? Luke painted a remarkable picture of miraculous activity in the book of Acts. His first recorded miracle was speaking in tongues. The 120 were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and "began to speak in other tongues" (2:4). Apparently, Jesus never spoke in tongues (He had no need to because of His close association with the Father), so this is one "greater" miracle that we can experience. The second miracle was the healing of a crippled beggar by Peter and John (3:1-10). Soon the whole church was performing miracles (4:30-31). The church was working the same miracles as Jesus. Both Peter and Paul had occasion to raise the dead also (9:36-42; 20:7-12). Acts chronicled some extraordinary miracles done by these two apostles that went beyond those of Jesus. Peter's shadow healed those who passed through it (5:15), and Paul's handkerchief held the power to heal those who touched it (19:12).

The biblical record convincingly points to the ongoing reality of miracles. The early church experienced phenomenal growth as unbelievers witnessed miracles. They are always a sign of God's presence, power, and love. Never are they to be used for exhibition purposes. Following the pattern of Jesus, we are to work miracles out of compassion. We must identify with people who are hurting. The church today must expect miracles. Our evangelistic efforts need miracles to display God's power among unreached and unreachable peoples. Jesus holds out His promise to us today: "Anyone ...will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things... ." The God of miracles desires to have a miracle-working church.

Personal Application: What do you think of Jesus' twofold promise to the church to do the same and even greater miracles than He did? Does such a promise stimulate your faith to the working of miracles?

Group Application: Discuss the controversy over the continuation of miracles. Why would Christians disbelieve in and actively oppose miraculous activity today?