God’s Great Providence

Even when we don’t understand the mind of God, we can trust the heart of God.

John 6:43-51

(From Charles Stanley Devotions)

I was signing books one day when a young man came forward for an autograph. He told me he had been on the verge of killing himself but then heard me speaking on television about suicide. After listening, he laid the gun down and dedicated his life to Jesus Christ.

I’ve heard similar stories of the Lord’s intervention in other lives. God does this by leading a person to the gospel. The messenger isn’t responsible for the individual’s salvation. Only God can draw someone to Himself, transform a heart, and change a sinner into a saint.

The world talks about accidents, luck, and fate, but all these terms imply we’re victims of circumstance. The truth is, God is sovereign, and the entire world is under His control. Anything that enters our life—whether it’s blessing or trial—comes because the Lord has a use for it in His plan, which is always for our good.

Sometimes we wonder why God doesn’t put an end to our troubles and hardships; He has the power to do so. But He’s working every event in our life according to the counsel of His will. We won’t understand it all until we see Him in glory. So until then, we must trust Him and His good purposes.

John 6:43-51
Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

`It is written in the prophets,AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

“I am the bread of life.

“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

“This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”