Providence

Simply Put

Ligonier Ministries

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is God like a cosmic cheerleader who is rooting for us on the sidelines but cannot get involved in the game? Today, Barry Cooper explores how the Lord is actively unfolding His good plan for His people, a plan that was set irrevocably before time began.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	How intimately is God involved in our lives? Is he a loving presence who wants the best for us,
0:07.4	a kind of cosmic cheerleader who's definitely rooting for us on the sidelines, but who can't
0:14.1	really get involved in the game? The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines Providence like this. God's works of Providence are his most holy,
0:26.1	wise and powerful preserving and governing of all his creatures and all their actions.
0:34.3	This encompasses the idea that God wisely and lovingly provides for his children.
0:41.3	He provides for everyone in one sense, life, breath, and every good thing we enjoy,
0:46.4	but there's a particularly profound way in which he provides for his own family,
0:52.5	which is you, if you're in Christ. This is the providence that Paul speaks of in
0:57.1	Romans chapter 8, verse 28 when he says, we know that for those who love God, all things work
1:04.7	together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. All things work together for the good of those who love God.
1:14.3	That verse means that all the things God brings into our lives, however difficult they may be,
1:21.5	are actually working together for our good. It also means, of course, that all the things we may deeply desire but have not yet
1:32.0	received and may never receive have been withheld from us for our good. One of my favourite books
1:40.7	is John Newton's letters. He puts it like this. All shall work together for good.
1:48.3	Everything is needful that he sends. Nothing can be needful that he withholds.
1:56.6	What a sense of calm and joy we'd experience if we really believe that truth.
2:02.4	It's important to see that this providence, this providing for, isn't merely God's reaction to our ever-changing needs.
2:11.8	It's more than that.
2:13.4	Our word providence comes from the Greek pro noir, which means forethought, and also the Latin
2:19.3	providentia, which means to provide beforehand. The word providence then conveys the idea that
2:27.0	when God provides for us, it's because he already knows what we need, far, far in advance of it happening in time. He's already ordered
2:37.8	things accordingly. When Jesus says, your father knows what you need before you ask him, he doesn't
	...

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