The Comfort Of God's Providence预览

Continuing from yesterday, if God’s kingdom is comprehensive, so is His kingdom agenda. The kingdom agenda, then, may be defined as the visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life. That has serious implications for us. The reason so many of us believers are struggling is that we want God to bless our agenda rather than us fulfilling His. We want God to okay our plans rather than our fulfilling His. We want God to bring us glory rather than us bringing glory to Him.

But it doesn’t work that way. God has only one plan: His kingdom plan. We need to find out what that is so we can make sure we’re working on God’s plan, not ours.

The Greek word the Bible uses for kingdom is basileia, which basically means a “rule” or “authority.” Included in this definition is the concept of power. So when we talk about a kingdom, we’re talking first about a king or a ruler. We’re talking about someone who is in charge. Now if there is a ruler, there also have to be “rulees,” or kingdom subjects. In addition, a kingdom includes a realm; that is, a domain over which the king rules. If you’re going to have a ruler, rulees and a realm, you also need kingdom regulations, guidelines that govern the relationship between the ruler and the subjects. These are necessary so that the rulees will know whether they are doing what the ruler wants done. Finally, there are also rebels. All of us begin rebelling against the rule of God; it takes His softening work in our hearts to turn us from rebels into rulees.

God’s kingdom includes all of these elements. He is the absolute Ruler of His domain, which encompasses all of creation. Likewise, His authority is total. Everything God rules, He runs—even when it doesn’t look like He’s running it. Even when life looks like it’s out of control, God is running its “out-of-controlness.”

You may feel alone, but you are not alone.

You may feel forgotten, but you are not forgotten.

God rules over all and in all. He is seeking your greater good as He advances His kingdom on earth, for His glory.

If you would like to know more about God's providence and the control He has over every area of life, click here to learn more about Dr. Tony Evans's book "Pathways." We want to thank B&H Publishers for these excerpts from Tony Evans' book "Pathways: From Providence to Purpose," published in 2019.