A Treatise on Providence, pt 3, by William Plumer  (1802–1880)   Providence Vast “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said to this day,  ‘In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen’” (Genesis 22:14, AV)   God’s providence is over all creatures; over fixed and planetary stars; over angels and devils; over saints and sinners; over beasts, and birds, and fishes; over globes and atoms; over heat and cold; over war, famine and pestilence; over heaven, earth, and hell.  Having enumerated the living creatures that God has made, the prophet says, “These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.   That Thou givest them they gather; Thou open Thine hand, they are filled with good.  Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust” (Ps. 104:27-29).  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).  What hast thou that thou hast not received? (see I Cor. 4:7).  It is because of this universal providence of God that His people cry, “Be not Thou far from me, O Lord:  O my strength, haste Thee to help me” (Ps. 22:19).  And every pious man cries, “My cup runneth over” (Ps. 23:5), and “He loadeth me daily with benefits” (Ps. 68:19).  Where is the man that can number up either his sins, or what are still more numerous, God’s mercies to him? (see Dan 4:35). God’s providence is also over all the actions of all creatures.  If anyone could act independently, he would be a God.  If Jehovah governs not a man for a day, that day he is a God.  Independence is one of the essential attributes of Jehovah.  Whoever has it is God.  To put a single act of any creature beyond divine control would be an admission that besides the Most High there is some other God.  Satan could do nothing against the holy man of Uz until the Almighty granted him permission (see Job 1:12). The Bible adopts two methods of teaching the universality of God’s providence. In one it asserts it as a great truth.  “He is a great King over all the earth”  (Ps. 47:2).  “His kingdom ruleth over all” (Ps. 103:19).  “By Him all things consist” (Col. 1:17).  “He upholdeth all things by the word of His power”  (Heb. 1:3).  “He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords”  (Rev. 19:16).  To Him death and hell have no covering (see Job 26:6). Again the Scripture descends to particulars, and declares that over each being and event God exercises sovereign control.  “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear?  He that formed the eye, shall He not see?  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct?  He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?” (Ps. 94:9-10).  He never slumbers, nor sleeps, nor goes on a journey.  He is ever awake.  His ear is ever open to the cry of His people.  He is never sick, never weary.  He fainteth not.  His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.  He numbers the very hairs of our heads.  Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice.  He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven; to make the weight for the winds; and He weighs the waters by measure.  He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder (see Job 28:24-27).  He directs journeys and makes them prosperous (I Thess. 3:11; Rom. 1:10).  He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man (Ps. 104:14).  He suffers not cattle to decrease (see Ps. 107:38).  He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry (Ps. 147:9). He calls the stars by their names.  He marshalls all the host of heaven.   He spreads the clouds in the heaven.  He is the father of the rain.  He clothes the grass.  He gives snow like wool.  He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.  Who can stand before His cold?  He hunts the prey for the lion.  He sends out the wild ass free.  He gives the goodly feathers to the peacock and plumes every fowl of heaven.  He gives the horse his strength, and clothes his neck with thunder.  He shuts up the sea with doors that it breaks not forth.   He enters into the springs of the sea.  He knows the place and the bounds of light and of darkness.  Angels, men, sun, moon, stars, fiery meteors, the heavens, the waters beneath us, dragons, trees, beasts, cattle, creeping things, flying fowl, kings, counselors, senators, all people, young men and maidens, old men and children, lightning and earthquakes, all, all obey His voice and do His will.  Nothing ever goes beyond His grasp.  Under His control the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the prudent, nor favor to men of skill.  Promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor form the south, but God is judge of all.  Whom He will, He exalts; whom He will, He abases; whom He will, He kills; whom He will, He makes alive.  As a partridge sits upon eggs and hatches them not, so is man in all His cares and toils without God’s blessing.  Under His government a horse is a vain thing for safety, nor shall He deliver any by His great strength.  He delights not in the legs of a man.  Without Him nothing is holy, without Him nothing is wise, without Him nothing is strong.  He is a rock. To us many things happen by chance.  We neither foresee nor design them.  We neither expect nor desire them.  To us much is accident;  the Scriptures so admit (see Deut. 22:6; I Sam. 6:9; II Sam. 1:6; Luke 10:31).  Indeed, the Bible says in so many words that time and chance happens to all (see Eccl. 9:11).  But to God, everything is part of a universal plan.  “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord” (Prov. 16:33).   When the cup of Ahab’s iniquity was full, and God determined to call him to judgment, a man “drew a bow at a venture, and smote him between the joints of the harness” (I Kings 22:34), and he died.  God can kill without instruments, or with instruments which seem to us despicable.  So also He can save by many, by few, or by none.  Under the shadow of His wings the darkest conspiracies can do us no harm.  The belief of this made David say:  “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:  though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident” (Ps. 27:1-3).  And when he was old he said:  “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle” (Ps. 140:7).  “By Thee have I run through a troop:  by my God have I leaped over a wall” (II Sam. 22:30).  David always ascribed his victory over the bear and the lion to the wonderful providence of God; and well he might, for he was but a lad when he slew them.  Man is immortal till his work is done. Cyrus was king of Persia and captor of Babylon.  He and his countrymen held to two principles having the power of two gods, one the author of good, the other of evil.  Yet two centuries before his birth God thus spoke to him:  “I am Jehovah, there is no God beside me:  I girded thee though thou hast not known me.  I form the light, and create darkness:  I make peace, and create evil:  I Jehovah, do all these things” (Isa. 45:5-7).  Again, God says by Amos:  “Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6).  Death is His servant.  The pestilence is His rod.  The wicked are His sword.  Famine is His scourge.  If the earth becomes iron and the heavens brass, and glow like a furnace, it is at the bidding of God.  If blasting and mildew, the caterpillar and the palmer- worm cut off the hope of the husbandman, they are the messengers of the Lord of hosts.  Death and hell have no power but from Him.  He carries the keys of them both.  He opens and none can shut.  He shuts and none can open.  His wisdom is unsearchable.  There is none like Him.  His providence is felt everywhere.  He rules all men good and bad, great and small.  “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water:  He turneth it whithersoever He will” (Prov. 21:1).  The reference in this text is to the custom of irrigating gardens by conducting the water in little canals, which can easily be closed, so that the gardener makes the water run in any direction He pleases.  In like manner God controls the heart of the king and of every man, as the gardener checks and controls these little rivers of water (see Phil. 2:13). --------------  This article is taken from:  Plumer, William S.  Jehovah- Jireh: A Treatise on Providence. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincot & Co., 1866.  A PDF file of this book can be downloaded, free of charge, at http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com