What is "Providence"?

Noted Christian blogger, Tim Challies, periodically reads through a Christian classic, reading a chapter a week then discussing it on Thursdays in an open dialogue on his blog. Starting with a posting on ch 1 on May 7, he'll be going through the Puritan Classic "The Mystery of Providence" by John Flavel. 

So...for those joining in, some may have a question, "What is 'providence'?" It's one of those semi-vague concepts that needs clarification if we are to understand what the book is about. Here's an article, taken from the Lexham Bible Dictionary, that may be a helpful starting point;

"PROVIDENCE (πρόνοια, pronoia). God’s plan and interaction with His creation. Usually discussed in association with sovereignty, foreknowledge, predestination, free will, and evil.

Ancient Societies
Most ancient societies and philosophers subscribed to some type of providence:

  •      Mesopotamians believed the gods assembled each year to determine the next year’s fate (Ŝīmtu) for each person and event. The gods themselves were controlled by whichever god held the Tablet of Destinies.
  •      Egyptians viewed the gods as controlling nature and events. They performed rituals to entice desired outcomes from gods.

Ancient societies perceived death as fate’s principal determinant—even the gods could die (Lawson, The Concept of Fate in Ancient Mesopotamia). Fated events could be affected by human appeals.

Pre-exilic and Exilic Judaism. Yahweh planned and controlled nature and nations throughout the earliest Jewish writings:

  •      Satan must ask permission to afflict Job with evil (Job 1–3).
  •      God delivered Israel from famine through Joseph’s slavery, and then prominence in Egypt (Gen 37–47).
  •      God delivered captive Israel from Egypt’s oppression (Exod 3–15).
  •      God punished Israel with famine due to Saul’s covenant-breaking murder of the Gibeonites (2 Sam 21:1, 14).
  •      God protected David from Saul’s relentless murderous pursuits (1 Sam 19–31).
  •      God punished Israel with drought due to Ahab’s sin (1 Kgs 17–18).
  •      God chose national leaders like Moses, Joshua, Saul, and David.
  •      God placed angels to assist and care for humans (Psa 90:11).
  •      Ruth credited God with her calamities (Ruth 1:20–21).
  •      God determines personal health or sickness and poverty or wealth (1 Sam 2:6–8).
  •      Though God is not mentioned in the book of Esther, the Jews’ rescue from annihilation is presented as providential (Esth 4:14).

Throughout God’s sovereign interaction with all aspects of life, the Jews retain individual freedom in action and choice (e.g., God hardening Pharaoh’s heart after self-hardening, Exod 7:13, 22, 23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; Feldman, “Divine Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Human Freedom”). In contrast to Jewish understandings, these passages could be interpreted as God manipulating every human decision and action except evil (Leahy, The Hand of God).


Wilson, K. M. (2012, 2013, 2014). Providence. In J. D. Barry, L. Wentz, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair-Wolcott, R. Klippenstein, D. Bomar, … D. R. Brown (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press."