God's Pervasive Providence

Introduction

We were at the Montag’s with many of you a few weekends back. I had heard throughout the day about the church softball team having a series of games that night. On our way out, I saw Pastor Matt, and I said to him, “Good luck tonight.”

Now, why did I say that instead of anything else I could have said? Sure, that could have just been a harmless saying, just me wishing him well. Or, it could betray how I view the world sometimes.

You see, we all forget sometimes that God has the power to do all things and that he is governing and preserving all things, even church softball games. In this universe there is no such thing as luck, no role of the dice, no coincidences, there is nothing that happens by chance with God.

What we’re going to see from 1 Samuel 18-19 is God’s pervasive providence. Now, you may be familiar with God’s providence, a very important doctrine, but it may not be one we talk about much. Most of us are probably more familiar with the sovereignty of God, but for the sake of everyone here today, let’s define what we mean when we talk about God’s providence.

God’s providence

God’s sovereignty: God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and as such has the authority and power to do whatever he pleases.

And we call what God decides to do the decrees of God. God’s decrees. His decrees are his eternal purposes, that he ordained before the foundation of the world, for his glory. They are, in a sense, God’s plans, his blueprints for all of history.

Isaiah 46:8–11 ESV

8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

God is sovereign, he has the right and power do do whatever he pleases. God has declared the end from the beginning, from ancient times things not yet done, he has spoken, and he has purposed. And God’s providence is God making those decrees happen in history.

Ephesians 1:11 ESV

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

We could say it thus way: God’s providence is the King of Kings enacting his holy and wise plans for history, for the good of his people, for his glory.

“God is not like a craftsman that builds a house, and then leaves it, but like a captain he steers the ship of the whole creation.”—Watson

If it happened, God planned it. And unlike an earthy king or president, God’s plans always come to pass, and he’s always doing way more than one thing at a time because he governs the entire cosmos.

And as we’ll see in the text today…

In God’s providence, he is working to uncover unrighteousness, adorn his anointed, and protect his elect, all at the same time.

And we’ll close today talking about why that is good news for God’s people.

Where we are at in the story… 1 Samuel 18-19

David had just come out to face the Philistine champion, Goliath, as the rest of the army and the cowardly Saul sat by. David knocked out this massive man with his shrimpy sling shot, and then proceeded to cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword, sparking an Israelite victory over the Philistine army.

And that brings us to our text today, where we’ll see that in God’s providence, he is working to uncover unrighteousness, adorn his anointed, and protect his elect, all at the same time.

Uncover unrighteousness

In these two chapters today we see who Saul really is inside more than we have seen so far. Saul was an unrighteous man who was only able to rule over Israel because of God’s special anointing. This anointing had been removed, and now we will see even more clearly who Saul really is without God’s restraining graces.

Like a powerful storm that tears down a might tree revealing that it was completely rotted out on the inside, God uses these events to uncover Saul’s unrighteousness that was already there—Saul’s unrighteous rot

Chain of events:

Saul’s suspicion springs up (Saul moves to keep David close, 1 Sam 17:55-58; 18:2):

Saul’s envy emerges (victory parade, 1 Sam 18:6-9)

Saul’s fermenting fear of David (“afraid,” “fearful awe” or dread, “even more afraid,” 1 Sam 18:12, 15, 28-29)

Saul and the spirits

God’s uncovering of Saul’s unrighteousness is more vividly highlighted in three instances in this passage where a spirit of some sort comes upon Saul.

Twice in these two chapters, the text says that “a harmful spirit from God, or from the LORD came upon Saul,” and each time, Saul tries to murder David

1 Samuel 18:10–11 ESV

10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

1 Samuel 19:9 ESV

9 Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.

Previously in 1 Samuel, David playing the lyre had been a means of grace for Saul. Whenever a harmful Spirit from God came upon Saul, David would play the lyre, and the harmful Spirit would depart.

What is happening here?

God has given Saul over to his sin. He has removed his restraining grace from him. We know that God’s Spirit that empowered Saul to rule has departed from Saul (1 Sam 16:14).

God, in some way, had been restraining Saul’s unrighteousness because the Spirit of God was upon him to equip him to lead the people. Saul is like a dog who looks mostly well-behaved inside the fence, but as soon as it’s let out, it wreaks havoc. Now that God’s Spirit has been removed, the governor is off. It’s full steam ahead for Saul’s sin.

Saul rejected God as King, so God rejected Saul as king, and sadly, as we see in these texts today, God gave Saul over to his own sin.

God, in his providence, is sovereign even over evil and harmful spirits, just as God allowed Satan, on a leash, to test Job through suffering. God judged Saul for his sin and removed his restraining grace from him so that Saul was left vulnerable to sin and torment, even from spiritual forces. Remember, we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood.

We see God’s judgement on Saul climax at the end of chapter 19. David has fled and escaped about 3 miles away to where Samuel is. Saul tries to send messengers to take David three times and they all fail, so Saul decides that he is going to go on his own to finally put an end to David, but this time another Spirit, capital ‘S’ comes upon him.

1 Samuel 19:22–24 ESV

22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

The last two times God had sent a harmful spirit upon Saul, but this time God intervenes himself. What God is doing here is making clear that he will uncover all unrighteousness, sin, the rot in your heart, even if you’re a king. Saul is so influenced by God’s Spirit that he either strips completely naked, or at least takes off his royal robes down to what we would think of as his underwear, signifying both that the kingdom had been removed from him and that God’s judgement was upon him.

God uncovers all unrighteousness, he exposes evil, and as Hebrews 4:13 says,

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

It doesn’t matter who you are, even a king, because as God said to Samuel, “the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” You can’t hide your sin, your unrighteousness, from God.

God sees every thought, word, deed. You know that saying about character: “The true test of someone’s character is what they do when no one’s watching.” Well, God sees everything. “The true test of someone’s character is what they do when they realize that God sees everything.”

Maybe you’re realizing that for the first time today. God sees all the rot in your heart. Will you turn from your sin and turn to Christ today? You can be free.

Adorn His Anointed

So we’ve seen that in God’s providence he is working to uncover unrighteousness, in this particular passage, Saul’s. Now, let’s look at how God, in his providence, is at the same time working to adorn his anointed. And we’ll see that he adorns his anointed, David, like a king in apparel and praise.

Adorned like a King

Saul’s son, Jonathan, who most likely would have witnessed David’s victory over Goliath, was present when Saul had brought David in after battle, with the head of Goliath in hand. Jonathan likely would have stood there with the rest of the troops as Goliath came forward for 40 days, morning and evening, taunting the troops and God himself. He would have watched this young man, David, probably around 15 years old, walk out to fight Goliath in the name of the LORD with nothing but a shrimpy sling shot.

Now, it is not clear whether Jonathan or anyone else other than Saul knew that God had rejected Saul as king. Either way, whether he did or did not know that God had rejected Saul and that David had been anointed as the next king, what Jonathan does next is striking.

Jonathan, from a human perspective, is the crown prince, the who was next in line to be king if Saul didn’t have the kingdom taken from him.

Jonathan admired the power of God working through this young man David. He saw how David trusted in the LORD to bring victory in the battle against Goliath, and…

1 Samuel 18:4 ESV

4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

God used Jonathan’s experiences to adorn David with the robes of the crown prince, royal robes, fit for the anointed king, foreshadowing what was to come.

Adorned with Praise

In the rest of the passage, Saul, in his sin, makes moves to try to keep David close or to have him killed, and each time his plans backfire.

After Saul took David and would not let him return to his father, David is successful in his military campaigns and (1 Sam 18:5) “this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.”

After Saul demotes David to a lower position in the army, the LORD makes David successful, and (1 Sam 18:16) “all of Israel and Judah loved David.”

3. When it was time to go to battle, as Saul was sending David out hoping he would be killed by the Philistines, the text says:

1 Samuel 18:30 ESV

30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

In his providence, God is working to adorn his anointed, in this passage today, adorning David like a king in apparel and praise, at the same time that he is working to uncover unrighteousness.

And as we’ll see next, God, in his providence, is not only working to uncover unrighteousness, and to adorn his anointed, but at the same time he is working to protect the elect.

Protect the Elect

We see this particularly in this passage when we trace what happened to David. David is not only God’s anointed king, he is also one of God’s people, the elect, just like us. And we’ll see here that God, in his providence, uses means to protect the elect. He doesn’t just save his elect and then throw them in cave somewhere. He places them in the world and uses means to protect them.

God’s Providence and Friendship

As we said earlier, at the beginning of chapter 18 we see Jonathan, Saul’s son, and his adoration of David. He has just witnessed David killing Goliath, and David’s coming in to Saul holding the massive man’s head in his hand.

Read 1 Samuel 18:1; 3

1 Samuel 18:1 ESV

1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

1 Samuel 18:3 ESV

3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.

Jonathan was clearly impressed by David’s trust in the LORD in killing Goliath, and it says Jonathan’s soul was knit together with David’s soul, meaning “Jonathan’s life was bound together with David’s,” as he realizes that they both are sold out for God and his purposes.

This friendship consists of two men, as warriors on the front lines, standing together doing God’s work. Their love and devotion to the Lord and his work is what binds them together.

And as we see later in the passage, friends can be a matter of life or death. We see in 1 Sam 19:1-7 that God uses this friendship to protect the elect. Jonathan overhears Saul’s plans to kill David, he goes and warns David, and intercedes for David to Saul, saving David’s life and restoring peace, even if it was only momentary.

In God’s providence, God uses friendship to protect the elect.

Application

This is so important for us to hear today, brothers and sisters. Even in the church, it’s tempting to define our friend group and decide who we spend time with and invest in based primarily on shared interests or personality types. And we forget that the Lord, in his providence, has placed specific relationships around us for our good, to help us endure to the end, especially those in our the local church.

What if the primary question you asked yourself when looking for solid friends was: “Who might God, in his providence, use to protect me until the end, to keep me faithful until the end, regardless of age, personality types, or common interests? And even on the flipside of that: who can I be friends with so I that, in God’s providence I might help them be faithful until the end?

Jonathan and David definitely didn’t have everything in common. David was a shepherd that smelt like sheep, and Jonathan was the crown prince. David was fighting off bears and wolves with his staff and sling shot, Jonathan was a solider fighting with his sword. But what they did have in common was most important thing there is: their love and devotion for God and his purposes.

So who, in this local church, might you spend more time pressing in with this week? The Lord, in his providence, has placed all of us in this same church together at this exact time and this exact place with these specific brothers and sisters.

God’s Providence in Evil and Trials

God, in his providence, uses evil and trials to protect the elect.

Through these two chapters we have seen the unrighteousness of Saul as he deceives David, and attempts to murder him multiple times, causing David to flee in order to preserve his life.

Let’s look at one such instance of this to get inside David’s heart and mind and what must have been going on:

1 Samuel 19:9–12 ESV

9 Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

David probably wrote around 75 of the 150 Psalms. He wrote Psalm 59, either during or after this specific trial. It bears the subtitle, “A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him”

And in the midst of Saul trying to kill him with a spear, and Saul’s messengers coming to his own house to kill him, David writes:

Psalm 59:16–17 ESV

16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Let me ask you something: Has the Lord ever used any of the Psalms that David wrote to encourage your faith, to sustain you in suffering, to help you set your hope on him?

These events that we are talking about are real events that occured just about 3,000 years ago. 3,000 years ago! And yet God, in his providence, has used the evil and trials that this real man in history actually faced, to cause David to write his prayers and laments down, and God preserved them throughout time as part of the Christian Scriptures, so that even you and I sitting here today can have our faith sustained by means of reading and meditating on them.

Do you think David thought that was going to happen? That’s amazing. In God’s providence, he was working 3,000 years ago to protect the elect through evil and trials that another believer faced.

So we’ve seen so far that in his providence, God was working at the same time to uncover the unrighteousness of Saul, adorn his anointed king David, and to protect the elect, even in evil and trials. And he didn’t just do that 3,000 years ago, he’s done that repeatedly throughout history.

Not the Only Time in History

2,022 years ago God, in his providence, sent his Son, Jesus Christ into the world. As Jesus began to do signs and miracles and declare that he was God, he was condemned by sinners just like you and me. He was sentenced, beaten, flogged, nailed to a cross, and killed. God revealed the unrighteousness of mankind in the killing of his own Son, the most wicked event in all of history.

Yet, at the same time, in his providence, God was adorning his anointed king. Though Jesus was mocked, flogged, had a robe of royal colors placed on his back only to be ripped off in order to rip open his wounds again, though they put a crown of thorns on him, God rose, this man, Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day, and he is now, as Hebrews 2:7 says, “crowned with glory and honor [why?] BECAUSE of the suffering of death.” In his providence, God was working to uncover unrighteousness of all mankind and to adorn his anointed through the suffering of death on the cross.

And through Jesus’s suffering of death, God, in his providence, was at the same time, working to protect the elect.

Jesus Christ , the Good Shepherd, laid his life down for the sheep, the elect, in order that that he might raise it up again, and purchase for the elect abundant eternal life, and John 10:28

John 10:28 ESV

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

God, in his providence, worked through the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to uncover unrighteousness, adorn his anointed, and protect the elect, all at the same time!

Praise God for his providence!

The Big Takeaway

So what’s the big takeaway for us today? Why is what we’ve seen today, good for God’s people? One thing it means for us is that we can...

Trust God even when his providences seem contrary to his promises.

Think about David in the passage today: Saul deceived him, and attempted to have him killed or kill him many times, and now David is on the run. And all this was happening even though God had promised David that he was to be king.

David was called to trust God, just like we all are, when God’s providences seem contrary to his promises. Even though Saul meant it for evil, God meant it for good, both for David and us. Just as the Jews and Pilate and Satan meant the execution of Jesus Christ for evil, God meant it for good for us, the elect.

What does it look like to trust God when his providences seem contrary to his promises? (4 exhortations, indebted to puritan pastor Thomas Watson for much of the thoughts here)

1. Marveling at God’s providences

I love how my school’s statement of faith puts it:

“We believe that God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons – all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself.”

When you look at your life, and the universe, marvel at God’s providences

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

2. Find Comfort in Knowing that God’s Providences are specially designed for you, even in suffering

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Better fitting than the perfect pair of shoes are God’s providences for you, including those that seem contrary to his promises.

Do you believe that?

3. Be bold in sharing the gospel

When we share the gospel, it doesn’t always seem to us that God is working. But we can be thankful to God, and remember, as Paul says,

2 Corinthians 2:14–16 ESV

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

We can be bold, we can speak in Christ, sharing the gospel with others, knowing that God, in his providence, will use our proclamation as a sweet smell to save some, and will cause it to be the stench of death and judgement to others. God is working the fulfill his purposes in history either way.

4. Looking forward to a day when we no longer will see dimly

We don’t understand everything that happens to us in God’s providence. God hasn’t designed it that way. David didn’t understand everything. How often in his writings do we see him ask God why these things are happening to him? But one day, in heaven, we will see how all of God’s providences, including the ones that seemed contrary to his promises, contributed to our salvation, to sustaining us, to keeping us from stumbling.

“Here [on earth] we see but some dark pieces of God’s providence, and it is impossible to judge his work by pieces; but when we come to heaven, and see the full body and portrait of his providence drawn out into its lively colors, it will be glorious to behold. Then we shall see how all God’s providences helped to fulfill his promises. There is no providence but we shall see a wonder or mercy in it.”–Watson

We may not, especially in sufferings and trials, see clearly God’s mercy toward us at work. But we can be sure that we can trust in God, even when his providences seem contrary to his promises.

Benediction

Jude 24–25 ESV

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.