Fri.-Sabbath, 4/3-5/20 Devotion

Thank God—it is almost Sunday! In order to help get us ready for this holy day, here is Thomas Watson, teaching on God's Providence, from his really good book, "A Body of Divinity." . . .

"Divine providence is irresistible. There is nothing that can stand in the way of God's providence, to hinder it. When God's time had come for Joseph [of the OT] to be released from prison, the dungeon could hold him no longer. 'The king sent and set him free,' (Ps. 105:20). When God decided to indulge the Jews with liberty in their religion, Cyrus [the pagan king], by a providence of God, put out a proclamation to encourage the Jews to go and build their temple at Jerusalem, and worship God, (Ezra 1:2, 3).

"God is to be trusted when His providences seem to run counter to His prom-ises. God promised to give David the crown, to make him king; but provi-dence seemed to run opposite to His promise. David was pursued by Saul, and was in danger of his life; but all this while it was David's duty to trust God. Please observe, that the Lord by difficult providences often brings to pass His promise. God promised Paul the lives of all that were with him in the ship (Acts 27:34); but the providence of God seemed to run quite contrary to His promise—for the winds blew, the ship split up, and broke in pieces. Thus God fulfilled Hs promise—since upon the broken pieces of the ship they all came safely to shore. Let us trust God, even when providences seem to go quite contrary to promises."