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The Providence of God | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Glad to be here.
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When you look at the physical world around you, it is
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incredibly tempting to expect a direct, visible readout of what
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the creator thinks of you. Oh.
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Absolutely. That is a huge temptation for
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all of us. Right, because we tend to treat
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the natural world like a well, Like a simple household
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thermostat. Or maybe a mood?
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Ring Yeah. I mean, if the sun is shining
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and the crops are growing and your health is good, human logic
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says the Creator is pleased with you.
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And on the flip side, if a catastrophic storm wipes out
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your property or you face a sudden illness, human logic says
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the creator is angry. It feels very binary, you know,
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very clean. Very easy to decode, but when
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you step into the theology of divine Providence, that simple
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thermostat shatters completely. It really does.
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The readout is no longer binary. We find ourselves looking at a
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physical landscape full of uneven blessings, delayed gifts,
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and seemingly wasted resources. Which is a lot harder for our
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human brains to process. Exactly so today we are
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undertaking A thorough deep dive into the writings of Jonathan
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Edwards, specifically looking at his thoughts on the Providence
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of God. It is such a fascinating topic.
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It is our mission today is to examine what the out word
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physical benefits of this world actually reveal about God's
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disposition toward humanity. And we are looking at sources
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that highlight the really interesting modern trend, right?
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Yeah, right now a growing number of Christians are actively
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turning back to the Puritans. They want to walk in the old
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paths of God's Word and proclaim old truths that glorify Jesus
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Christ. Because there is no new theology
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here. It is all about recovering what
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has been lost. Right.
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And what catches my attention is the rise of what is being called
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the Digital Puritan I. Love that term.
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Me too. In our electronic age, people
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are filling their digital libraries with epubs, mobi files
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and PDFs from the reformers and Puritans.
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So they are taking these massive historical volumes and putting
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them right on their phones. Yeah, and the source material
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for our deep dive today points listeners toward Puritan
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publications to find rare, updated works in modern English.
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And it is worth noting that all proceeds go to support a
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Puritan's mind. That is a great resource for
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anyone wanting to read the original text for sure.
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So we are taking one of these classic texts from Edwards and
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unpacking its logic today. Sounds good, where do we start?
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Well, before we look at the specific daily benefits mankind
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receives, we must establish how Edwards ranks God's ongoing
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Providence compared to the initial act of creation.
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Which is a point that might catch a lot of modern readers
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off guard. Really.
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How so? Well, Edwards argues that God's
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Providence, taken generally, is an operation superior to the
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work of creation itself. Wait, superior to creation?
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That is a staggering claim when you think about the sheer scale
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of creating the universe out of nothing it.
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Really is. But Edwards is asking us to
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shift our perspective. Creation is.
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It is just the beginning. Like setting the stage.
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Right. It is the setting of the stage.
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Providence, on the other hand, is the actualization of God's
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intent. I see.
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For anyone holding to the Westminster Confession, this
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distinction carries immense theological weight.
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Because the confession is so specific about how God interacts
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with the world. Precisely, the Confession
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teaches that God is actively upholding, directing, disposing
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and governing all creatures, actions and things.
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From the greatest even to the least.
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Yes, from the greatest even to the least.
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When Edward says Providence is superior, he is moving our focus
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away from a one time historical event.
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Like the six days of creation. Right.
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He is moving our focus away from that and placing it squarely on
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God's continuous act of sovereignty over.
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Everything. Yes, over every single molecule,
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every single event, and every single moment in history.
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Creation gives us the raw materials, but Providence is the
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unfolding of the divine decree across time.
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It's the application of God's wisdom and strength to the
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things He has made. That makes a lot of sense.
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To prioritize creation over Providence would be like, well,
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like praising A playwright for buying paper and ink rather than
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praising the actual story being written on the pages.
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Oh, that is a great way to put it.
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I want to pause on that Westminster Confession
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definition for a moment, because we throw around words like
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Providence a lot. We do.
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It becomes a bit of a buzzword. Right, But defining it as
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upholding, directing, disposing and governing is so specific.
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It leaves no room for a hands off approach.
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Exactly. Upholding means keeping the
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atoms from flying apart. Directing means pointing things
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toward a specific end. And governing implies active
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royal management. Which aligns with the specific
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analogy Edwards uses in the text.
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It is brilliant in its clarity. The engine analogy.
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Yes, he says, creation is like an artificer.
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You know, a Craftsman making an engine.
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Providence, then, is the use and improvement the artificer makes
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of that engine or the work he intends to accomplish with it.
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Which is such a mechanical, tactile way to think about the
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universe it. Is, and this brings up a
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critical question for you. If creation is just the
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machinery, does this mean the true value of the universe is
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found entirely in what God intends to do with it, rather
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than what it is made of? Yes, I think that is the
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necessary conclusion. Because we tend to marvel at the
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scale of the cosmos, the physics of stars, the biological
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mechanics of a human cell. Sure, we love looking at the
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parts. Right, But Edwards seems to be
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saying all of that material brilliance is secondary to the
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functional purpose it achieves. It completely revolutionizes how
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we view the physical world. It really does.
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It makes me wonder how this reframes our entire
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understanding of reality. Well, if we lean into Edwards
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engine analogy, we realize that an engine engine sitting idle on
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a workbench has no practical value, no matter how beautifully
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it is constructed. Right, a sports car engine
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doesn't do much good sitting on a pallet in a warehouse.
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Spot on. Its value is entirely bound up
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in its operation. Providence is the engine
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running. I love that Providence is the
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engine running. Providence is the engine
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performing the specific work the artificer designed it to do, and
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this perspective acts as a massive fortress against any
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deistic view of the universe. Explain that for a second.
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What does Deism claim? So Deism presents a clockmaker
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God, a God who winds up the universe, sets all the gears in
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place, and then steps back. Letting it run on its own.
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Right, letting the gears turn on their own.
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In that view, the machine is left to its own devices, and God
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is distant, passive, and uninvolved.
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But Edwards's view destroys that.
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Completely, Edwards demands a highly involved creator.
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The artificer does not just build the engine, he operates it
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continuously. So he is turning the dials,
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pushing the levers. Yes.
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Every revolution of the gears, every spark, every output is
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actively managed by him. Therefore, the universe is not
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just a collection of impressive matter.
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No, it is the active instrument of God's will.
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And this raises the next logical question for anyone observing
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this grand engine at work. What is the output?
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Right. If Providence is the active
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operation of this machinery, what does the daily output tell
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us about the artificer's attitude toward the people
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living inside the machine? That is the perfect question to
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ask, because the output of this engine is what we experience
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every single day. Right, the stuff we actually
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interact with. Edwards points directly to
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outward provisions. He talks about the sun shining,
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the rain descending and all the temporal comforts we enjoy.
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The basics of human survival. Yeah, and he argues that these
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provisions prove God is not an implacable, irreconcilable enemy
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determined to cast mankind off forever.
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So the rain proves God isn't a permanent enemy.
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Yes, he calls these kind dispensations of heaven an
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abundant show of goodness, kindness, and favorableness.
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He even uses a really poetic phrase for it, the.
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Smiles of heaven. Yes, the smiles of heaven, but I
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have to offer a massive theological challenge here on
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behalf of the listener. Go for it.
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Given human rebellion, the reality of sin, and the reality
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of divine wrath, why shouldn't we view sunshine and rain as
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just random weather patterns rather than proof of a placable
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God? That is a fair objection.
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I mean, why should a rebel look at a sunny day and assume the
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king who has been offended is actually willing to show favor?
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Couldn't these just be the unfeeling mechanics of a broken
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world, completely disconnected from the Creator's personal
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disposition toward us? That is the precise, cynical
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pushback human logic produces, but Edwards answers it by
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appealing to the flawless integrity of God's character.
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OK, how does he frame that? He uses incredibly stark
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vocabulary to dismantle that cynicism.
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He reasons that if God had wholly rejected mankind,
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determining never to receive them, to favor again, these
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temporal gifts would be entirely deceitful.
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Deceitful. Yes, they would have the
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appearance of fatherly care, but in reality they would be masking
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and everlasting hatred. Oh wow, I see where he's going.
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Edwards says that to believe God is an irreconcilable enemy while
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he simultaneously showers humanity with these gifts
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implies A horrid blasphemy. Because it would make God a
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liar. Exactly.
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It would mean accusing God of dealing in delusive, deceitful
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smiles. Like a villain who smiles at you
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right before he attacks. Right.
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And since Reformed theology recognizes that God is truth
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itself and cannot lie, it is possible for Him to wear a mask
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of kindness over a heart of pure hatred.
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Therefore, the sunshine and the rain cannot be random weather.
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No, nor can they be cruel tricks.
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They're genuine smiles. They are authentic indicators
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that God is placable. Yes, that he is of a disposition
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to show favor, and that he is not an everlasting,
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irreconcilable enemy. Because the smiles of heaven are
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genuine, they prove God is open to reconciliation.
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That is the core of his argument in this section.
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Wait, I need to push back on this idea of the smiles of
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heaven being so clear. OK, what is the hang up?
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I hear what Edwards is saying about the sun and rain proving
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God is friendly, but honestly it is hard to swallow when you look
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at the full scope of nature. You mean the harsher parts of
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the physical world? Yeah, if I am a farmer whose
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crops just got wiped out by a hurricane, or if I'm looking at
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a drought that lasts for years, I am not seeing a smile.
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No, you are seeing devastation. Right, I am seeing destruction.
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How does Edwards square natural disasters or the harsh realities
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of the physical world with this placable God?
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If sunshine is a smile, is a tornado a momentary lapse into
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irreconcilable hatred? That is a highly practical
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objection. Edwards would anchor his
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response in the baseline of human rebellion.
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The baseline of rebellion. Yes, in reform thought, because
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humanity has rebelled against the Creator, the baseline
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expectation of justice is immediate judgement.
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So we shouldn't expect anything good to begin with.
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Right. The fact that the earth does not
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open up and swallow the rebel is a grace I see.
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The fact that the sun rises at all on a world in rebellion is
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the baseline smile of heaven. So how did the Tornadoes and
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droughts fit in? When natural disasters occur,
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they are part of the groaning of creation under the curse of sin,
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which the apostle Paul talks about in Romans.
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So they are a result of the fall, yeah.
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But Edwards is pointing out that the general daily disposition of
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the world, the fact that seeds grow, water hydrates and gravity
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holds, shows a sustained preservation.
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A preservation that shouldn't logically exist if God hated us
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entirely. Precisely if God were purely,
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entirely, and irreconcilably hateful toward humanity, there
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would be 0 sunshine. There would be 0 harvests.
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We would just be wiped out. The existence of any temporal
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comfort proves A placable disposition.
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God is not bipolar, switching between hatred and love based on
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the weather. Right.
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The overarching system is designed to sustain human life.
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Which proves the Artificer is willing to deal with humanity
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rather than instantly annihilate it.
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OK, that makes the baseline much clearer.
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If the default setting for Rebellion should be instant
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destruction, then any level of ongoing preservation and comfort
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is a massive indicator of a willingness to reconcile.
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It is a huge indicator. This brings us to a major pivot
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in Edwards logic. Because the smiles of heaven
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prove God is reconcilable, it logically forces a follow up
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action from the Creator. Because proving he is open to
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peace isn't the same as actually establishing peace.
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Exactly. The question immediately
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becomes, how do we know the specific terms of this piece?
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Edwards argues that if God is reconcilable, he must make a
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revelation to mankind to make known the methods of
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reconciliation. It makes me think of an analogy.
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Say you hack into a massive bank and steal millions of dollars.
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OK, a bank heist, right? You are caught and the bank is
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furious. You cannot just send the bank
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manager an apology e-mail with a $5 coffee gift card and say we
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are good, right? No, they would probably laugh
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before they threw you in jail. Right.
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The offender does not get to set the terms of peace, only the
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offended party. The bank holds all the cards.
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They dictate the terms of restitution.
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That analogy captures the legal and relational reality Spot on.
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Is Edward saying that without a specific written revelation,
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mankind is just wandering in the dark, throwing $5 gift cards at
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the sky, guessing at how to achieve peace with the Creator?
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Yes, that is exactly his point. In any fractured relationship,
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especially 1 involving a violation of divine law, the
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offended party retains the exclusive right to dictate the
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terms of reconciliation. Because we broke the law, we
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don't get to write the treaty right.
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Humanity, being the offending party, has zero authority and 0
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capacity to negotiate or invent a Treaty of peace.
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We. Cannot guess what might appease
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a holy God. Therefore, if God truly is
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placable, which the sunshine and rain prove He is, He must
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communicate the specific terms of peace to us.
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Only God can declare how He will be at peace with us and receive
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us back into favor. Edwards concludes that there is
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absolutely nothing in the entire world that can pretend to be
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this specific, authoritative revelation if the Holy Scripture
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is not. So it all points to the Bible.
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Yes, this ties directly back to the Reformed doctrine of special
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revelation versus general revelation.
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Let's break those terms down quickly.
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Sure, while the physical universe, the rain, the sun, the
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seasons, provides general revelation proving God exists
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and is benevolent, it cannot tell you the name of Jesus
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Christ. Right.
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A tree can't tell you about the gospel.
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General revelation cannot explain the mechanics of the
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cross. It cannot outline justification
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by faith. You can stare at a beautiful
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sunset for 100 years and it will never tell you how your sins can
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be forgiven. Only special revelation can do
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that. Therefore, the logical necessity
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of a written revelation points exclusively to the Bible as the
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sole manual for peace between God and man.
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That is a tight logical progression, but Edwards
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argument about the necessity of scripture immediately runs head
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first into a massive real world hurdle.
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The historical reality of who actually has the Bible.
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Exactly, if Scripture contains the required terms of peace,
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what happens to Edward's logic when we look at history and
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realize most of the world did not have it?
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The text notes a very serious objection here.
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The objector points out that the Scriptures are communicated to
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very few of mankind. A tiny fraction historically.
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Right. For the vast majority of people
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who enjoy the outward bounties of Providence, who feel the sun
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and the rain, they seemingly have no opportunity to obtain
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reconciliation because they lack the written revelation.
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Therefore, to them it is as if God is still irreconcilable.
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Edwards answers this by saying reconciliation for these
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populations is highly improbable, but not utterly
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impossible. He.
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Claims the way of reconciliation is publicly known in the world.
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I have to push back hard on this, Edwards says.
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God has afforded opportunity to the generality of the habitable
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world, but isn't he placing the blame entirely on human apathy?
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Well, yes, he is placing the blame there.
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Does he really believe that if people just searched harder,
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they would automatically find the written revelation?
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What about unreached people groups who lived thousands of
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miles away from the Middle East during the 1st century?
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To understand Edward's response, we have to view it through the
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lens of Reformed anthropology. Specifically, the doctrine of
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human depravity. Yes, when we talk about human
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depravity in this context, we are not saying people are as bad
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as they could possibly be. Right, it doesn't mean everyone
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is a serial killer. Exactly.
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We are saying that every part of human nature is affected by sin,
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including the intellect and the will.
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So our desire to seek God is broken.
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Edwards argues that if the minds of men had been as much engaged
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in the search of divine truth as they ought to have been, they
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might have felt after God and found him.
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He really said they would have felt after God.
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Yes, he suggests. They probably would have come to
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an acquaintance with divine revelation.
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The failure here is not located in God's provision.
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The failure is located entirely in mankind's inherent lack of
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desire to search for divine truth.
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Humans willingly suppress the truth.
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We enjoy the sunshine, we eat the grain, we drink the rain,
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but we refuse to seek the artificer who runs the engine.
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We just want the gifts, not the giver.
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Right. The objection assumes that
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mankind is full of innocent seekers who are simply victims
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of geography, desperately wanting a Bible but unable to
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find one. And Edwards flips that
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assumption completely. He asserts that the opportunity
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is present in the world, but the natural human heart is
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aggressively hostile to seeking it out.
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The outward bounties of Providence should provoke A
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relentless search for the Creator.
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But humanity responds with indifference or idolatry, so
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God's placability remains true even if human rebellion makes
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the actualization of that reconciliation a highly
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improbable for many. Let me make sure I'm tracking
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with this concept of human depravity because it is so
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central to his argument. It is the hinge of the whole
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defense here. You are saying that Edwards
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views the entire human race not as blind victims locked in a
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dark room, but as people who are actively covering their eyes and
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refusing to look at the light that is available.
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Yes, that is the perfect way to visualize it.
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If that is the case, then geography is not the primary
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barrier. Human hostility is the primary
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barrier. Precisely.
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But even if we concede that mankind is faulty and apathetic
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in searching for spiritual truth, the text immediately
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points to a second objection concerning the physical world
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itself. Which is an objection about
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fairness. Right.
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The unequal distribution of earthly blessings presents
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another major challenge to God's intent to favor.
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Edward's second answer states that common favors prove God
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intends favor to some, but that doesn't mean all will actually
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receive the temporal benefits at the same time.
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The text provides A fascinating list of historical examples
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here. It really does.
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Edwards looks at the American side of the globe before
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Europeans arrived. And he points out, the entire
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nations were wholly destitute of wheat, rye, barley, peas, wine,
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horses, neat cattle, sheep, goats, swine and poultry.
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That is a massive list of resources that just didn't exist
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over there. If all these animals and crops
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were specifically intended by the Creator for man's comfort,
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why withhold them from an entire hemisphere for ages?
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It seems cruel, the human logic. Right.
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Doesn't the massive historical delay in distributing these
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comforts contradict the idea of a fatherly, caring Providence?
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It is a huge paradox to human reasoning, but Edwards brings in
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even more examples to clarify the mechanics of God's
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Providence. What else does he list?
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He points to metals, wine, the lodestone, which is the magnetic
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compass used for polar direction, glass and useful
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medicines. Things that advance civilization
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heavily. Yeah, he even points out that
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universal things like the heat of the sun and vegetation very
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heavily by degree, depending on where you live.
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So the physical world is inherently unequal.
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Yes, Edwards argument is that the mere existence of the
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blessing in the world proves the intent of favor.
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The fact that the lodestone exists proves God intends to aid
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mankind and navigation. The fact that weed exists proves
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God intends to nourish mankind. The intent is established by the
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creation of the provision. But the realization of that
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provision is staggered. Staggered across centuries and
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continents according to God's sovereign timing.
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Why stagger it though? The mechanics of this timing are
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crucial. By staggering the distribution,
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God teaches humanity dependency. Think about it, if every single
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continent had every single resource, mineral, animal and
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crop perfectly distributed from day one, humanity would assume
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it is just the blind mechanical output of nature.
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We would just think the universe was a giant uniform vending
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machine. Exactly.
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By delaying the introduction of the horse or wheat to the
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Americas, God disrupts the illusion of a mechanical
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universe. He reveals himself as a
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sovereign manager, turning the dials of history.
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The delay does not negate the intent.
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A father might purchase a gift for his child but choose to wait
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five years before handing it over.
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The intent to bless existed the moment the gift was secured,
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right? Edwards is showing us that the
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unequal distribution of physical things in the realm of comic
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grace perfectly mirrors the unequal distribution of
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spiritual revelation in the realm of special grace.
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God is sovereign over the timing and the geography of both.
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It all points back to the artifice of running the engine.
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That concept of disrupting the illusion of a mechanical
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universe is brilliant. We crave uniformity because it
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allows us to predict and control our environment.
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We want to be in control. Right, but God intentionally
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injects unevenness into history to force us to look up at the
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manager instead of just staring down at the gears.
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It is a built in mechanism to humble us.
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OK, so so God intends to bless us with rain and crops, and he
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manages the timing of those blessings.
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But what about when that blessing just dumps into the
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middle of the Pacific Ocean? The rain on the sea.
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Yes, this brings us to the final objection in the text regarding
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the apparent waste of God's Providence.
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It is a really common objection to.
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The objection states, if God's true aim and these outward
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benefits is the true happiness and benefit of mankind,
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shouldn't the blessing have the exact same effect everywhere it
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is bestowed? And Edwards answers this with a
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resounding no. And he uses the magnificent
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analogy of rain. The main design of rain is to
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make the earth fruitful, yet it falls on the sea, which covers
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more than half the globe. When rain falls on the ocean, it
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cannot answer the intention of making the earth fruitful.
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It just adds water to water. When I read this, I immediately
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think about how human logic evaluates efficiency.
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We are obsessed with efficiency. When rain falls on the ocean,
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human logic calls it wasted effort.
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A corporation would fire a middle manager who poured
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resources into a sector that yielded 0 fruit.
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They absolutely would. How does Edwards defend a God
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who seemingly wastes his own blessings on the ocean?
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Is he saying God operates on a metric completely foreign to
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human efficiency? Yes, spot on.
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God is not bound by human metrics of utility, return on
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investment, or efficiency. So he doesn't look at a
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spreadsheet before he makes it rain.
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No, he doesn't. God can grant things globally
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with a main design for mankind's benefit without being obligated
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to make every single drop of rain or every single provision
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produce the exact same utilitarian effect.
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When rain falls on the ocean, it forces humanity to recognize
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that God's ways are higher than our ways.
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It demonstrates his absolute sovereignty over the engine of
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creation. He is wealthy enough in his
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resources to pour rain upon the sea just because it pleases him
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to do so. He doesn't have a water
23:34
shortage. Right.
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The rain on the sea proves that while God acts for the benefit
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of mankind, He is not a servant to mankind's needs.
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He manages the engine according to his own vast,
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incomprehensible wisdom. The objection fails because it
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assumes God must act like a frugal human manager who is
23:52
strapped for cash and has to maximize every single drop of
23:55
water. Instead, God acts like an
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infinite sovereign who defines his own parameters of success.
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He can water the vast uninhabited ocean simply to
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display his abundance. It points back to the
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Westminster Confessions idea of God disposing all things.
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He disposes the rain where He wills, and He owes us no
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explanation for the drops that do not hit our cornfields.
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That is a staggering realization.
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We want God to be an efficient middle manager because we
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understand middle managers. We can predict them.
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And we can judge their performance based on our own
24:24
spreadsheets. But the artificer runs the
24:26
engine according to his own pleasure.
24:27
As we look back over the logic of this deep dive, it is amazing
24:31
to see how far Edwards has taken us.
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He builds a massive, undeniable argument, step by step.
24:36
We started by discussing digital Puritans, returning to old
24:39
texts, and downloading epubs to find old truths.
24:42
Which is a great pursuit. We looked at Edwards view of
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creation as just the machinery, the engine, while Providence is
24:50
the actual continuous operation of.
24:52
It the engine running. Right, we came to understand
24:56
that the daily sunshine and rain are genuine smiles of heaven,
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proving God is placable and willing to reconcile.
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They aren't deceitful masks. Then we realized those genuine
25:06
smiles demand a specific written scripture to outline the legal
25:10
terms of peace. Because the offending party
25:12
cannot write their own pardon. We analyzed human depravity and
25:16
how mankind suppresses the truth rather than seeking it.
25:19
The hostility, not geography, is the issue.
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We examine the staggered, sometimes mystifying
25:24
distribution of physical gifts, like horses withheld from
25:27
continents for centuries to teach.
25:30
Disrupting the mechanical illusion.
25:32
And finally, we looked at the rain falling fruitlessly on the
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ocean, proving God is an abundant sovereign, not a frugal
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manager. It is a comprehensive framework
25:41
that completely alters how a person interacts with the
25:44
physical world. It really does.
25:46
It takes away the binary thermostat and replaces it with
25:49
a grand, mysterious yet intensely purposeful engine
25:54
managed by a good artificer. I want you to consider the rain
25:58
on the sea in your own life. What outward benefits or smiles
26:02
of heaven are happening around you right now that seem
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completely ineffective, unequal, or mysterious to your human
26:08
logic? We all have areas of life where
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we feel like rain is falling on the ocean.
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Maybe it is a career effort that yielded 0 fruit and investment
26:15
of time into a relationship that was unreciprocated, or a
26:18
milestone that seems perpetually delayed while everyone around
26:22
you receives it instantly. It could feel incredibly
26:24
frustrating. What blessings seem wasted to
26:26
yet actually point to a larger placable intent from the Creator
26:30
that you haven't fully grasped yet?
26:32
When you look at the physical world, don't just look for a
26:35
simple readout. Look at the complex operation of
26:37
the engine and trust the artificer who is running it.
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Thank you for joining us for Reformed Thinking.