Divine Government

Preached on 10-28-01

THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15)

THE SUBJECT OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE is frequently connected in people's minds with misfortune and adversity. In the face of serious difficulties we turn, almost instinctively, to the Lord, and take comfort in those teachings which show that in all things the Lord is watching over us, and that despite worldly disaster, He is leading us towards eternal happiness in heaven.

Whereas it is indeed true that the doctrine concerning the Divine Providence can help us take comfort and strength in the midst of adversity, this doctrine has, of course, far wider implications. The Divine Providence is defined in the Writings, not as Divine Comfort, but as Divine Government. It has as its end the leading of men from deeper evils into lesser ones, from lesser evils into good, and from good into greater good.

The Divine Providence is the Lord's governing people in such a way that they might be saved. Furthermore, this government is universal. It operates in every least thing every least second. As the Lord teaches in the Gospels, not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Lord knowing. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" ( Lk. 12:7). His providence is not only in the large things of life, but also in the very least. How could the Lord govern the large events in our lives without also governing the minutest things? Large things are made up of, and follow from, small things (cf. DP 201).

Now this is something we can all acknowledge theoretically. We say that we believe that the Lord is controlling everything. We certainly don't deny this. It is, though, something we tend to forget as we go about our lives. We don't consciously associate the Lord with the little things of everyday life. You get caught in a traffic jam -- what does the Lord have to do with this? You spill a cup of coffee -- is this something the Lord is involved in? If somebody says something that makes us angry -- was the Lord really involved in this in some way?

The fact is, when something really significant is at stake, we then tend to think of the Lord and His Providence. But if we look at a hair brush, and notice the hairs on it, we don't usually think about the Lord. Nevertheless, even in these tiny, seemingly insignificant things -- such as a single hair falling from our head -- even in these tiniest details the hand of the Lord is present. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Lk. 12:7). Nothing whatsoever happens without the Lord either causing it to happen or allowing it to happen. But we aren't aware of this. And the reason we aren't aware of it is that the operation of the Divine Providence is shrouded in secrecy.

Now there are various reasons why the Divine Providence works so secretly. This morning we would focus on one of these reasons. We are taught that the Lord works in secret because if we were aware of the workings of His Providence, we would be furious. This might seem incredible, but it is true nevertheless.

We naturally tend to think that if the Lord would allow us to see the specific reasons for what He does, and the reasons why He allows certain things to happen, we would have greater faith in Him, and would cooperate with Him more fully. But this just isn't so. We are taught that if we were aware of all that the Lord does in governing our lives, then, far from cooperating with the Lord, we would fight Him every inch of the way, and regard Him, not as our friend, but as our greatest enemy.

The Divine Providence is, as we have noted, the Divine Government. Government, by its very nature, implies subordination. The Divine Providence has as an end that our own will might be subordinated to the Lord's will. If the Divine Providence did only what we wanted, and allowed only that to happen which we would allow to happen, then it would not be Divine government at all, but merely human government. Thus it is that Providence frequently opposes and frustrates the will of man. The Lord does this, not to make us miserable -- the Lord most certainly does not want to see us unhappy -- but for our own good. He will not override our freedom of choice -- we are free to choose to love whatever we wish. Nevertheless, the Lord governs all things in such a way, and often allows things to happen in such a way, that we are discouraged, by various unfortunate events, from descending deeper into evil. If, on the other hand, we turn towards what is good, then the Lord will lead us in other ways. Sometimes He will encourage us in our good by various blessings. At other times He may strengthen our good intentions by allowing us to undergo adversity.

The way in which the Lord works, though, is, and must be, completely secret, for otherwise we would be furious at what He is doing. This is difficult for us to accept. We don't imagine that we would be angry with the Lord. But the reason we are not angry, and the reason we may feel that we could never be angry at Him, is that we are not aware of what the Lord is doing to us. He is, as it is said in our text, "bruising our head," and if we were actually aware of His doing this, we would rise in rebellion against His government. If the Lord's government were something people were actually aware of, it would, indeed, be the most unpopular government in the whole world.

The Writings make it plain that we are from birth, filled with selfish tendencies. They also make it plain that hidden within this selfishness are more evils than we could ever imagine. This selfishness is what is represented by the serpent which deceived the man and woman in the garden of Eden. Selfishness, a cunning and totally corrupt selfishness, is what brought about the downfall of our ancestors thousands and thousands of years ago. And this selfishness, far from decreasing, has grown over countless generations, so that all of us, today, have within us a tendency to the most terribly arrogant and destructive conceit and self-love.

Mercifully, we are not consciously aware of the depth of this evil within us. We would be overcome with horror and terror if we could actually see all that is lurking within us. But this evil is there. We are taught that it is there, evil from which the Lord desires to save us. What is more, if we care to reflect upon it, we realize that we do indeed oppose ourselves in many ways to the Lord's will. Let us consider, honestly, how our lives measure up to what the Lord teaches in His Word. So often, our innate selfishness, our innate pride, our innate sense that we know best, leads us to think things, and to do things, that are opposed to what we are know from the Word. And yet what we know from the Word is as nothing compared to the infinite wisdom within it. If then we so often fail to live up to even the very few truths we do know -- if we oppose the Lord in even the few general things we do understand -- consider how greatly we would oppose His government if we could actually see it working -- a government which reaches into the most minute details of our lives.

These relatively few truths we do understand are one of the significations of the Lord's "heel." And because, from the love of self, we oppose the Lord's will in even these most general things, it is said, of the serpent, of the love of self, that ". . . you shall bruise His heel." From the love of self we bruise the Lord's heel -- we oppose His will -- in many different ways.

But the Lord is merciful. Within the curse upon the serpent is contained a most marvelous prophecy. It is said that "He shall bruise your head." This is a prophecy of the Lord's coming, when He would come into the world to defeat the power of the hells, the power of the serpent. It is also a description of the Lord's coming into an individual human life. The Lord comes to each one of us. He comes to bruise the head of selfishness within us.

The Lord knows that though we are born with the most terribly selfish tendencies, this nature is not something we chose, but is something that we inherited through no fault of our own. Unless we insist on making this inheritance our own, the Lord will lead us away from it. Our tendency is to throw ourselves into evils, but the Lord governs us in such a way that He opposes, in countless ways, our tendency to do what is evil.

So often we don't realize just how evil the things we do really are. We gossip maliciously, and we fool ourselves into thinking that it is only from a natural interest in other people. We take credit for and expect gratitude for any good we do, with no thought whatsoever that to claim credit for good is to steal from the Lord. The evils we flirt with are terribly dangerous. It is as if we were little children. When a young child discovers a brightly colored liquid in a bottle under the kitchen sink, he wants to drink it, not realizing it may be poison. We want to drink from a bottle like this. Now if we insist on drinking the poison of evil, the Lord will, in the end, allow us to drink it. He will allow us our freely chosen lot in hell. In the meantime, though, He stands in our way. He takes the poison away from us. But the Lord is an infinitely wise Father. He doesn't manifestly oppose us. Rather, by distracting us, or by placing obstacles in our way, He delays us in our attempts to appropriate spiritual death to ourselves.

There are many irritating things that happen to us. As we all realize, life is full of such things. And often we get irritated, angry, and sometimes even furious, at other people, or at ourselves, or at what we might call our "bad luck." Perhaps somebody says something which hurts our feelings. Perhaps we do something stupid, and make a fool of ourselves. Or perhaps we have a run of "bad luck." We may get angry and upset. But usually our anger is directed at others, at ourselves, or at circumstances, and seldom at the Lord Himself. And yet it was the Lord who decided to allow the hurtful comment to be made. It was He who allowed us to make the foolish mistake. It was He who allowed certain events to come together to cause us misfortune. It is all in His hands. He doesn't cause evil things to happen. But He certainly allows them to happen if in some way this will check our selfishness, and thus bruise the head of the serpent of self-love. In such matters, though, his Providence works secretly, lest we direct our anger towards Him and so destroy ourselves spiritually. It is said in the work Divine Providence that if man felt the workings of Divine Providence, "he would be enraged and exasperated against God, and would perish; but while he does not feel this he may be enraged and exasperated against men, and against himself, and also against fortune, without perishing" ( DP 211).

Even though we are taught that the Lord's providence is in even the most minute details of life, we still cannot see, for certain, what He is doing. If the Lord allows something unfortunate to happen to us, we can only guess at the reason. It might be that it is a way of preventing us from falling into greater evil. It might even be a way of preventing us from entering prematurely into a state of charity -- a state we might not ready to sustain, and might thus profane. It might be that we are already in good, but the Lord has foreseen that hardship will strengthen that good. And when something fortunate happens to us, once again, we cannot really know the reason.

It is not for us to fathom all the secrets of Providence. Yet, knowing that Providence does exist, it becomes easier to trust in the Lord. We are less likely to bemoan our lot in life, whatever that lot might be. We can feel more peaceful, knowing that the Lord is indeed leading us. It becomes easier for us to learn lessons from life. We can learn patience, trust and contentment, knowing that insofar as we strive after obedience and usefulness, the Lord will be able to deliver us from evil. We can gain strength by striving after what is good, even when life is difficult. We come to accept that whatever life may bring, or wherever the Lord may lead us, there are potential blessings in store, even though we may have no clear idea of what these blessing might be. We come to accept that life is not simply a series of irritating frustrations, but is, rather, a path, a path along which we walk, guided by the Lord Himself.

This path of life is none other than the path of salvation. We begin our life, to use an illustration given in the Writings, as a man in the presence of a deadly enemy, an enemy we do not realize is trying to kill us. Without telling us why, a friend comes and guides us away from the enemy along unknown paths. Only when we are safe, does this friend tell us of the danger we were in. The enemy is, of course, the love of self. The friend who leads us away is, of course, the Lord (DP 211).

If the Lord were to suddenly appear to us, and tell us that because of our selfishness we were in grave danger, and insisted that we change instantly, lest we perish, we would not listen to Him. A lot of our selfishness we do not see to be selfishness. Many of our evils we see not as enemies, but rather as fond friends. We would not cooperate with the Lord, even if He stood directly in our path. We would, in fact, be furious at Him. This is why He works in secret, leading us ever so gently away from our enemy, away from the love of self and the evils which come with it. It is only later, as we become confirmed in a state of good, that we can look back on our lives, not with smugness, but with thanksgiving and with gratitude, realizing that we had been in the greatest danger, and acknowledging that we were saved from certain spiritual destruction only by the merciful leading of the Lord Himself.

This is the wonder of the Lord's salvation: that He loves us more than we love ourselves; He cares for us more than we care for ourselves; and He works unceasingly, every least second, to lead us away from ourselves, away from selfishness, into the everlasting joy of heaven itself.

Amen.

Lessons: Gen. 3:8-15, Lk. 12:1-7, DP 211.