PROVIDENCE by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 9, 1878

PROVIDENCE

By Uriah Smith

BY ELD. U. SMITH.

Text: 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

I do not know of any more dreary and cheerless view to take of life than that taken by the Fatalist. How could we endure our own existence under the dark shadow of the theory that everything which transpires occurs by chance; that man is the sport of accident like a bubble upon the waves; that he is beyond the pale of an overruling providence, fulfilling no purpose in the great scheme of life, but simply the victim of blind fortuity and fate?

We have all met such persons. We have heard them declare that if they believed the events of their lives were brought about by any overruling providence, they would rise up in rebellion if he thought that these circumstances were ordered by some higher and governing Intelligence, then what comfort could be derived from the thought that all this evil had come from chance instead? If the misfortunes of life have made us miserable and stored our days with grief and sorrow, what comfort can there be in taking that view of the matter which leaves the way all open for this state of things to continue, and these circumstances still to abound?

The difficulty we apprehend to be this: Persons who take this view of the matter have not been able to reach that degree of faith and confidence in God, and his overruling providence, which would enable them to believe that the disappointments and trials and afflictions through which they have been called to pass were for their good, were necessary to discipline them, and to develop in them those traits of character which God designs to bring out for some good end or purpose. Could they view it thus, they would be able to bear bravely and with fortitude all the trials of the way, instead of murmuring and rebelling against them; for the prospect of the good to be gained in the end would sustain them in all the necessary trials through which it is to be obtained.

With most people, however, there is not so much need of argument on this subject to prove that there is an overruling providence in the care of which we all live, as there is need of some thoughts and evidence by which their faith in this doctrine shall be quickened, and their confidence strengthened, that there is One above who cares for them, and that all that occurs to them in this life is for some beneficent purpose, designed to result in good in the end, so that when all is finished they will be able to look back and see harmony, goodness, and mercy in all their experiences.

But there is one thought which is calculated to lead us to a different view of this matter; and that is the immensity of God’s works, and our own insignificance. When we look at the wonders of creation; when we go forth to other worlds; when we have explored as far as man is able to explore the many orbs of the universe until this earth itself dwindles to a mere speck in the great mass; when we behold millions of manifold more magnificent worlds than ours revealed to us by the telescope, it gives us such an idea of the immensity of God, the immensity of his works, the infinity of his power, and the insignificant position which our world occupies, viewed relatively to the universe as a whole, that the inquiry involuntarily arises, How can God be mindful of us? How can there be an overruling providence over us? “What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?” For even the world itself is in God’s sight as the small dust of the balance.

When we look in this direction it is calculated to arouse and foster incredulous thoughts and feelings of despair. We seem to occupy too little space in the universe to be the objects of God’s special notice or care.

But there is another thought that is calculated to correct this idea. There is another direction in which we can look. We can look not only above us, but we can look below us. There are objects much below ourselves. We descend to the lower animal creation, to insects, to animalculæ, to those very small animals which are hardly visible to the naked eye, and what do we behold in them? We behold the same wisdom, an evident plan, the same exhibition of omnipotence, that we behold in the mighty works around and above us. Look at that tiny speck, and see the limbs move. Mark the rapidity of motion. Mark the vibration of the wings of the insect, and consider what rapidity of movement is exhibited, and with what infinite speed, almost, it must be accomplished. And all that in a little speck scarcely visible to the naked eye. By the power of the microscope we go immensely lower still. We see in a single drop of water millions of little beings endowed with life, possessing certain powers of limb and muscle, with their different organs all in marvelous perfection of form and motion. We look upward and behold infinity, above us; we look downward and lo! an equal infinity below us. Then we stand midway between two infinities. God has had care for these small creatures, and if he has care over these minute particles which he has endowed with life, why should we not have faith in God that his care is also bestowed upon us? Are not we the products of his power, and the objects of his love? and cannot we claim some measure of his protection? of that sustaining providence which is over all his creatures?

We find some direct statements in the Scriptures which speak of this all-pervading providence exercised by the Creator over all his works. Neh. 9:6: “Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the Heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of Heaven worshipeth thee.”

Here a view is taken of all the greatness of God’s works. Here is a broad statement made that God is the Creator of all things, and not only that, but that his providence is manifested to preserve them.

In Ps. 36:6, David says: “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.” Here is the statement that God’s care extends to the brute creation, an order of existence lower than ourselves; and if it extends to them, then of course we have some ground of hope for ourselves. In Ps. 104:26, 27, 28, David speaks of the lower animal creation, and in verses 27, 28 he says: “These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.”

In the 13th and 14th verses of the same psalm he says: “He watereth the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth.”

This is another declaration of God’s care and providence over those creatures which he has made. He provides for their sustenance. He preserves them all.

We turn to the teachings of the New Testament on this subject. Matt. 10:29: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” What a declaration is that! The sparrow, that small bird, two of them sold for a farthing, one of them worth only half a farthing, and that one shall not fall to the ground without the notice of the Father, showing that his care, his providence, and his notice extend to all his works, to the very lowest of all the things which he has created in the earth.

In immediate connection with this is a declaration which shows how God regards man in comparison with the sparrows. Verse 31: “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” How can this fail to teach us a lesson of confidence, trust and faith in God? Here are the sparrows, and not one of them falls to the ground without the notice of the Father. Fear ye not therefore, for ye are of more value than many sparrows. Why not we then have full and implicit confidence, trust, and faith in his care for us and his protection over us?

In Matt. 6:33, 34, Christ makes another declaration setting forth God’s care for us: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Take no anxious thought, borrow no trouble, have no solicitude in regard to the matters of the future; but let it be the chief object and aim of your life to seek first the kingdom of God, not seek its righteousness, as it is sometimes quoted, but “his [God’s] righteousness;” seek to be righteous as he is righteous; seek to conform in all things unto his holy law, and make this the great aim of your life, and then all necessary things shall be added unto you. Who shall add them? Read a verse or two that goes before: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? [That is, take no painful, anxious thought in regard to these things] (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

Now, what shall we do? Take the matter into our own hands and try to supply our own wants by our own feeble efforts? No. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” If you do this, his care will be over you and all needful things will be supplied to you. You will have enough to eat, enough to drink, and enough to wear. You will have enough to supply all your wants while you are on your journey, traveling onward to the heavenly land; and that is all you need; it is all you can use; it is sufficient.

This does not preclude any proper effort on our part. God provides food for the fowls of the air, but they must gather it; he does not bring it to them. No more can we sit down in idleness expecting that our daily sustenance will be provided and brought to us, with no effort on our part. We are only taught that such ways will be opened before us for the acquisition of needful things, that we need not give ourselves to anxious care in regard to them, nor be prevented from seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

In Rom. 8:32 Paul says, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” If God has given us so great a gift, the highest and most precious of all gifts, even his own beloved and only begotten Son, how shall he not give us freely all lesser things? There is no gift which will bear any comparison with the gift of the Son of God; and God’s goodness has been such that he has manifested all this love and this mercy and regard for us in giving his Son. How, then, will he not give us all things since he has given us a gift so much greater than anything else of which we can conceive?

These scriptures show the wonderful regard God has for his people. But are not these expressions to be taken only in a general sense? Are they not true as a whole, so that we can make a general application, and yet not designed to have an application to individual cases? Can we, as individual members of the great human family, claim a share in these wonderful manifestations of God’s providence? Can we come to God, and for ourselves individually claim this protection and receive the assurance of his care?

Let us read a declaration which Christ makes touching this point in Matt. 10:30: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Now whether we take that to be true in a strictly literal sense, or

whether we regard it simply as a strong expression to illustrate God’s regard for us and the particular manner in which he regards us, it teaches the same thing. If it is literally so that the very hairs of our head are all numbered by our Heavenly Father, then we understand what an infinite care he has for us; and if it does not mean literally that, yet it must mean almost the very same thing; for it shows that God has such care for us that it can be illustrated only by such a representation as this. This certainly reaches every individual case. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

But if God regards us in this manner, something else follows as a natural sequence from this fact. We are led to the conclusion at once that all the events of our life are numbered. If there is not the smallest part of our being, not the smallest member of our bodies that is unnoticed by him, even though we come to the very hairs of our head, then certainly there is no event which affects us, even to the slight degree of causing a hair of our head to perish, that is not noticed by our Heavenly Father.

Is not this conclusion in harmony with the text, and does it not follow as a natural consequence from it? Assuredly it does; and it is in harmony with other declarations which we find in the Scriptures respecting God’s care for his people. The remaining half hour of this morning service might be spent in simply quoting texts of Scripture showing how God preserves his creatures, how he overrules all things in relation to them, how he upholds them, how he marks out all events for them, how he sustains, how he delivers them in trial, and how he supplies their wants; and many illustrations might be given of the different ways in which God’s providence has worked, and how it will work for all those who will commit their ways and their cases unto him; so that we can say with Paul in his epistle to the Romans, that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

All things work together for good. If this is a correct view that God has such regard and care for us that all our members, as David says, are written in his book, that he knows us altogether, even to the numbering of the hairs of our head, and that all the events of our life are ordered by his providence, determined by his will, and we are led by him, then we are prepared to make an application of the text before us. We are to cast all our care upon him for he has a care for us. The word care here includes all things wherein we have any solicitude, any care, any anxiety; and the phrase “casting all your care upon him,” means submitting these cares to him, and leaving them with him, reposing trustingly in his arms.

“For he careth for you.” This part of the text is very expressive in the original. The translation might be given literally something like this: “For to him there is a concern about you, or in regard to you.” He has a regard or a concern in reference to you. He careth for you. Now we are to submit or cast all our cares upon him. If there are things about which we have any anxiety or solicitude, we are to come and commit them to God, and leave them with him, not trying to carry the load ourselves.

What is it to cast our cares upon God, and how can we do it? There are some persons who bring their troubles and anxieties and difficulties before the Lord, who come to him and tell him all about them, but before they leave his presence, gather them all up and take them away with them. That is not casting our cares upon the Lord. To cast our cares upon him is not only to make them known to him, but to cease our own anxiety, and our own worrying and fretting concerning them; it is to have confidence in God that he will accept all the petitions we offer to him, that his providence will overrule all perplexing things in our behalf, and that our cases will come out all right in the end, and so leave the matter with the Lord. Then we shall come forth from his presence calm and peaceful, with a satisfying trust in him.

Paul’s epistle to the Philippians 4th chapter and 6th verse tells us how we are to cast all our cares upon God. “Be careful for nothing [that is have no over-anxious care for anything], but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” Does this apply to all the events of our lives? Does it apply to all our circumstances? Does it cover everything? Or, are we to understand it to embrace simply the more important matters. If some great thing comes upon us, some great calamity, though we go to God with that, and try to cast that upon him, can we do the same in the smaller affairs and the little perplexities? The text says, “All your care,” and the text quoted from Philippians says, “In everything let your requests be made unto God” by supplications and prayer.

We all know how this is. Even those of us who have lived but few years know how many perplexities and cares and troubles we meet at every turn. We are told by Him who reads all hearts, that “every heart knoweth its own bitterness.” The text tells us to cast all these cares upon God. It is our privilege, then, under all circumstances, in every case, to take all our cares and anxieties from our own shoulders and leave them with the Lord.

It must be especially so in cases of affliction and sickness. Do we not find in circumstances of this nature our greatest cares and anxieties? The Lord has anticipated our wants of this kind, and by the prophet Isaiah has set forth in a series of beautiful expressions what Christ has done for us in this respect. In Isaiah 53:4, we read: “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” In Matt. 8:16, 17, we find a declaration showing how this is fulfilled in Christ. “When the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils; and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” So then God’s regard and care for us extends even to all our bodily afflictions and sicknesses, and they are not without his notice. And Christ, the same now that he was then, “the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,” has borne our infirmities, sicknesses, and afflictions. We can come to him and make known our wants in this respect.

There are some who do not think it consistent to offer prayer for the recovery of the sick. They seem to consider this outside of the providence of God, and not within the province of his care for us; so that in sickness we are to look for no more than human aid, bearing these burdens all ourselves.

Of course there are, in most cases, conditions in which we can help ourselves; and so far as we can, it is our duty to do so. And this doctrine of God’s providence that is so clearly set forth in the Scriptures does not release us from putting forth what efforts we can in our own behalf. This is taught us in the case of the fowls of the air. God’s providence is over them, but it does not release them from any action on their part. He provides their food, but they must gather it. Just so with us. God makes provision for us, and we are to do what falls to us to do. There are afflictions and sicknesses that come upon us for the violation of the laws of health. In such cases can we consistently go to God and pray that these afflictions may be removed from us while we still maintain the causes? There would be no consistency in such a course. If a person should accidentally sever an artery from which by a little effort on his own part he could stop the flow of blood till surgical aid could be rendered, it would be presumption for him to do nothing and then ask and expect the Lord to heal him. We are to do what we can for ourselves and beyond that ask God to help us. There are many cases of affliction from which, by a proper course on our own part, we can recover. But who does not know that there are a thousand cases which we do not understand, or over which, if our knowledge does extend to them, we have not power. In such cases it must be in harmony with this great doctrine of God’s care for us, and his special providence over us, to come to him and make known our wants, thus casting our cares upon him and believing that he careth for us.

We cannot separate these things. They are all linked together. And just as soon as we stop offering prayer for the sick in reference to their sickness, what occasion is there to pray at all? Why do we bow before God, around the family altar or in secret, and ask God to bless us, and seek for his care and protection to be over us? Why do we ask him for wisdom to guide us? Why do we, in the public congregation, in behalf of all the people, plead for God’s care in our behalf, for his hand to uphold us and for his truth and his will to lead us? Why? Simply because we believe God hears our prayers and will answer them by showing his care for us. And he knows our situation in every respect and understands all our wants. We cannot separate our difficulties and troubles into different kinds and classes, and say, “These we may cast upon God; but those he will not notice.” Such discrimination comes from the imperfection of human vision or an evil heart of unbelief. If we may go to God with any of our cares, we may go with them all. And although he understands all before we ask and better than we can tell him, yet his help is based on the condition that we so feel the need of his help that we can appreciate it when given, and that we manifest this by seeking him for it.

This whole subject is made plain in the Scriptures, and there stands as a unit. It is like the seamless robe of our Lord; to divide would be to destroy it. It is like a beautiful pattern of mosaic; if we take out a part of the figure we destroy the whole pattern. So if we say that there are some things which we can ask of God, and others which we cannot, we mar and disfigure the whole doctrine of his providence.

“Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” How he cares for us is set forth in many Scriptures. 2 Cor. 6:17, 18: “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” David says, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” And we are assured in Heb. 4:15 that Christ is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” What figures these are to incite confidence and faith and trust in God! “As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” “I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” “Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are.”

Thus all our circumstances, our temptations, our trials and our afflictions are known to the Lord altogether. Christ is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and has promised aid and sustaining grace if we will come to him in faith believing in his word.

“He careth for you.” Cares for you as a parent cares for his children; cares for us as a great high priest pleading in the sanctuary above. He is there to present our cases to the Father, and secure mercy and blessing to rest upon us and uphold us in time of trial. What an infinite and exalted privilege—the privilege of coming to God and sustaining this relation to him, to believe that he is thus caring for us, that his eye is upon us, that he who keeps Israel slumbers not nor sleeps, that every event of our life is ordered by his wisdom, and that we can cast all our cares upon him.

Is it not a marvel, as we look over the world and behold the evils of life, the troubles, trials, dangers, and multitudes of calamities that come upon men, how the worldling can pass along without God, without Christ, and without any part of all these promises? How can he endure in these things without any hope in Christ to sustain him? All has been done for our world that could be done. Christ came and suffered for our sakes. He was crucified for our sins. He rose and ascended to Heaven, and is now pleading before the Father in our behalf. He offers pardon to all them who come to him with sincerity of heart, and help in all the cares and troubles of this probationary life, and to all who serve him, he promises a home finally in his everlasting kingdom. All these blessings are offered to a sinful world, and yet the world passes along without accepting them.

We can but sincerely pity that person whose heart has become so callous that he does not feel any need of help in the evils of this mortal state. And we must pity still more the one who does feel the need of this, but does not know where to go to find it, or has no faith to grasp these promises. Brethren and sisters, it is our privilege to know where to go for help. It is our privilege to cast all our cares upon God, and believe that he careth for us.

Most people, to gain the friendship of the kings of the earth, would be ready to make almost any sacrifice. They would think, What an infinite advantage it will be to me; what a help financially; how I shall be sustained; what a great support this person of power can render me. But what would it be, after all? It would be only for a short time. Such a person could not keep us from disappointment, from trouble, from sickness or from death. He could not really do anything for us only in reference to a few of the temporal matters of this life; and that would only continue a few months or years at the most.

But the Lord’s offers extend not only to all things which concern us in this present state, but to the future also. In the resurrection his hand will uphold us. He has promised comfort in sickness, in trial, and in all our difficulties. He has offered to bring us through all these, and to give us life at last in his kingdom. The man who has this friend to whom to go, this arm upon which to lean, need fear nothing here. Fearlessly he can launch away into eternity; for he has his Saviour’s arm to lean upon. This life is short, and but few are happy in it; that is eternal, and all who reach it will be filled with unspeakable joy. Shall we heed this injunction of the apostle? Shall we avail ourselves of this great privilege?

We need it in our households, as fathers and mothers. Our children need it. They need to know that there is One upon whom they can cast all their cares; and to believe there is one who cares for them. We need it in our work in all the business of life. We need some one upon whom to cast our cares. Students who are attending our school, need this privilege. Cast your cares upon him. You have your necessities and perplexities; you have your cares and anxieties. Cast them upon the Lord and he will help you. We all have our necessities which can be supplied only by the Lord. We need support which can be secured only by leaning on his mighty arm.

Let us, then, all cast our cares, and cast all our cares, upon him, believing that he cares for us, that his providence will be over us through this life, and that he will fulfill his promise and give us everlasting life, finally, in his Heavenly kingdom.