Unfathomable Providence

“Two things I request of You
(Deprive me not before I die):
Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches –
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9)

The pursuit of personal happiness frequently proves to be the main cause of human despair. It is the inward selfishness of man that drives us towards wealth, fame, and power; and the fear of the unknown makes us insulate ourselves from all possible kinds of suffering.

Agur the son of Jakeh, a man of wisdom in the bible, uttered two requests from the Lord. Firstly, to be kept away from the sin of deceit. Secondly, to receive what the Lord intends to give him.

It takes a huge measure of faith to ask for such things, especially Agur’s second request. How likely it is for us to truthfully mean it when we ask God to “give me neither poverty nor riches”? Is it easy for us to honestly ask for that, for the sole reason of not wanting to fall into a snare of forgetting the Lord in our prosperity, or of bringing shame to the name of the Lord in our poverty? Certainly not.

Sometimes, it may be easy to utter prayers God, especially the ones that sound benevolent and noble. But yet, it is exactly those kind of prayers that are most likely to be lacking in honesty. Perhaps this is precisely why Agur, before making a request that requires a great deal of honesty from him, made another prior request: “Remove falsehood and lies far from me”!

The mystery of God’s providence is unfathomable. Sometimes, it can be true that God brings prosperity and comfort as a form of reward, and poverty and suffering as a form of punishment. But the bible points out that God’s providence actually holds no pattern. He blesses indiscriminately, as much as He curses indiscriminately. “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mathhew 5:45)

It will drive us insane to try and figure out the cause of God’s providence or His allowance of suffering. It will be wiser to focus less on causal answers, and focus more on our response towards such situations. It takes great faith to grapple with things we do not understand, while believing that God intends for our good, even in things that seem evil. For God’s unfathomable providence has a role of conforming our will towards acceptance of His sovereignty, in the putting of every aspect of our lives at His disposal. The step of faith to follow God no matter what, with the little that we know, is not an easy step to take.

“I ask You neither for health nor for sickness, for life nor for death; but that You may dispose of my health and my sickness, my life and my death, for your glory… You alone know what is expedient for me; You are the Sovereign Master; do with me according to Your will. Give to me, or take away from me, only conform my will to Yours. I know but one thing, Lord, that it is good to follow You, and bad to offend You. Apart from that, I know not what is good or bad in anything. I know not which is most profitable to me, health or sickness, wealth or poverty, nor anything else in the world. That discernment is beyond the power of men or angels, and is hidden among the secrets of your Providence, which I adore, but do not seek to fathom” - Blaise Pascal