Tonight, little children all over the world will drift off to sleep completely at peace. There are many exceptions of course, but for the most part, that’s one of the best things about being a kid. When you go to sleep, you go to sleep. You don’t toss and turn, plagued by worries.
Tomorrow morning, when these children wake up, they will still not feel any sense of stress. Sure, they might feel some kid-level despair because their cereal got soggy or their dinosaur fell behind the couch. But all in all, they will set out to stroll through a relatively stress-free day.
They don’t feel a lot of anxiety because they have a very different way of thinking about life. They are very focused on the present, so they don’t tend to dwell on the past.
Not so much with us. We are very focused on the past, so we don’t tend to dwell on the present.
When these children think about the future, it’s mostly with enthusiasm. Fueled by their imagination, they believe anything could happen tomorrow and that seems very…exciting.
That’s not how we do it. Most of the time, even if we’re generally happy, we are chronically worried. Fueled by our imagination, we believe anything could happen tomorrow and that seems very…terrifying.
If you could go back and talk to you when you were a carefree child, it would be tempting to tell you, “Enjoy it while you can.” It would be easy to shake your head at this early version of you and think, That poor, naïve little kid. But maybe it’s not the child who has the wrong perception. Maybe it’s the adult.
One time, when Jesus was teaching, some people had the audacity to approach Jesus with their kids. The disciples, like kindergarten bouncers, stepped up to run interference. “Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them” (Matthew 19:13). This is for the grown-ups. No kids allowed.
But Jesus spoke up and the rebukers were rebuked. “But Jesus said, ‘Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me’” (Matthew 19:14). He wasn’t simply being kind. He was providing insight. Jesus goes on to say, “for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14).
Jesus wasn’t setting up some kind of cute moment. Look at the kids doing grown-up stuff. He’s letting the kid sit behind the steering wheel and pretend to drive. Isn’t that precious? No, that’s not what Jesus was doing. Not at all.
Jesus was essentially telling everyone, It’s more than appropriate for the children to be directly involved. They are exactly the kind of people who will be the most suitable for My plan. They are a perfect fit for the kingdom (in other words the church). If you want to look for inappropriate candidates, you’ll find those among the grown-ups.
When it comes to approaching God, children have a better mindset. Not because they have any special toddler insight. They are in drastic need of discipline and guidance. Their compatibility with the kingdom is for other reasons. One might wonder if they qualify partly because they don’t worry all that much.
One of the reasons you slept better when you were little is because you believed someone else was in charge. As much as you might have experienced frustration about being told what to do all the time, when the day was winding down, great peace came from knowing that you were not in charge. Someone else had everything under control
You might have fretted about monsters under the bed, but deep down, you knew that down the hall, there was someone bigger and stronger than the monsters. You certainly didn’t worry about whether or not the doors were locked or if the car needed an oil change, or if the credit cards were being maxed out. All those things were realities, but you didn’t worry about them. Because you weren’t in charge.
But now you’re a grown-up. And now you are in charge. It’s you who has to make sure the day doesn’t self-implode. It’s you who has to scrape together your happiness. It’s you who has to hold everything together.
And when someone on Sunday morning gets up and mentions that “God causes all things to work together for good,” you think, That’s a pleasant thought. That’s nice. But you don’t believe it. Because you are the one who frantically struggles to cause all things to work together for good.
But ultimately we find ourselves confronted with the word “providence.” This word captures the essence of Romans 8:28 and how God is working things out for a good outcome.
Although the actual word “providence” rarely shows up in scripture, God’s involvement and attention are presented as a constant. “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (II Chronicles 16:9). When Hagar was in despair and apparently facing a bleak future on her own, God reassured her He was involved and He would handle the future for her. Hagar responded with the realization, “You are a God who sees me” (Genesis 6:13).
The vid in providence comes from a word meaning “to see.” It’s where we get our word “video.” The pro part of providence comes from a word meaning “before.” The combination of the two words means “to see before.” This is why you will see the concept in Scripture translated as “foresight” (Acts 24:2). This means providence is more than simply seeing. Providence is seeing things ahead of time. Before the fact.
But with God, providence is even more than foresight. The basic concept is also connected to our word “provision.” With God, providence means to provide. What He sees moves toward what He does.
God is more than aware of you. He is very focused and ready to respond. In fact, He is eager to respond. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). And as He watches us, despite our foolish mistakes, He eagerly stands by. “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people” (Romans 10:21).
There are profound implications here. Sometimes there are delays on God’s part because of His foreknowledge. He knows how things will affect the future and so He might very well hold off on certain actions for significant reasons. But there might be many times the delay is caused by problems on our end of things. He is reaching out, but we are not reaching back. The “complications” of providence can usually be traced back to us. God is eager to provide. He is the perfect gift-giver. “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). He always provides the perfect things at the perfect moments.
We also have to remember that God’s agenda is usually very different from ours. A sloppy analogy might help make the point:
What if you had a friend who worked for the CIA or some other powerful, secret organization that has the means to acquire all kinds of information? In our hypothetical scenario, this organization your friend works for has access to all cameras, all phones, all computers, everything.
One day your friend tells you, “I’m going to protect you and your loved ones 24/7. I’ll be watching your house, watching you when you’re driving, watching you at work. You get the idea. I won’t necessarily interfere, but if you let me, I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.” Most of us would feel extremely grateful for this kind of arrangement.
But he’s not done. He goes on to say, “But here’s the thing. I’m going to focus on you. Not your stuff. If it comes down to saving your house or saving you, I’m going to save you. Same thing with your car. If it comes down to saving your 2019 Dodge Caravan or you, I’m going to save you. And I’ll be making some judgment calls.”
Before you can respond, he adds, “The bottom line is this: no matter what, you are the primary subject. Everything else is expendable. That’s the deal. Okay?”
Your response would naturally be, “Sounds good!”
God has a very similar arrangement. He is going to protect you 24/7. He will watch your house, watch you when you’re driving, watch you at work. And if you let Him, He will make sure nothing bad happens to you.
But here’s the thing. If it comes down to saving your house or your car, He’s going to save you. And He will be making some judgment calls. Perfect judgment calls.
Plus, most important of all—if it comes down to saving your physical body or saving you, He is going to save you.
The bottom line is this: no matter what, you (in other words, your soul) are the primary subject. Everything else is expendable. Including your physical life.
Any hesitation on our part towards this arrangement only comes from our failure to have an accurate perception of reality. We simply don’t value our souls as much as God does.
If your friend pulled you out of your car and the car blew up, that would be a win. If you were to ask him, “Why didn’t you save my car?” he would probably explain, “The deal is, I will do everything necessary to save what matters.”
When it comes to understanding the providence of God, it might help to remember Romans 8:28 doesn’t always apply. Anyone who isn’t a Christian is on their own. The darkest five words in the Bible might be the ones used to describe any lost soul: “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
With God, everything actually will “work together for good.” In fact, He is able to do “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
God is really good at this. If you genuinely believe that, it’s going to change how you live your life. And when you think about the future, you will have peace of mind. The more clarity you have about God, the less anxiety you will have. You’ll mainly just be excited about the way God will perfectly handle the future. You will feel excited rather than fearful about tomorrow. And maybe, like the little children who came to Jesus, you’ll sleep like a baby.
