But God Also Prepared a Worm

God's providence is founded on wisdom because he purposed to work all things after the counsel of His own will, for his own glory and pleasure (Ephesians 5). Far from being arbitrary and irrational act, it is brought to pass by his deepest wisdom. To say that God's providence is founded on wisdom is to mean that He employs the best means or ways possible to attain his ultimate goal - His glory. These thoughts are hard to comprehend however considering that what God brings to pass in our lives can sometimes be very difficult for us to understand or appreciate.  How we ought to think about God's providence?  John MacDuff's The Prophet of Fire (1877) has something to say:

"And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made

it to come up over Jonah, and soon it spread its

broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from

the sun. This eased some of his discomfort, and

Jonah was very grateful for the gourd.

But God also prepared a worm! When the morning

rose the next day, it smote the gourd so that it soon

died and withered away." Jonah 4:6-7

There is surely great comfort in the thought that

the bounds of our life are divinely appointed . . .

Our lots in life,

our occupations,

our positions,

our dwellings,

what the fatalist calls 'our destinies',

what heathen mythology attributed to 'the Fates';

all this is marked out by Him who "sees the end

from the beginning."

It is He who takes us to a place of solitude.

It is He who takes us from solitude.

It is He who takes us to our sweet shelters of

prosperity, with their sparkling brooks of joy.

It is He who, when He sees fit, sends the worm.

Oh, it is our comfort to know, in this mysterious,

raveled, varied life of ours, that the Great Craftsman

has the threads of our existence in His own hands;

weaving the complex pattern, evolving good out of

evil, and order out of confusion."

HT:Grace Gems

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Footnote:

Providence is generally used to denote God's preserving and governing all things by means of second causes (Ps. 18:35; 63:8; Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). God's providence extends to the natural world (Ps. 104:14; 135:5-7; Acts 14:17), the brute creation (Ps. 104:21-29; Matt. 6:26; 10:29), and the affairs of men (1 Chr. 16: 31; Ps. 47:7; Prov. 21:1; Job 12:23; Dan.2:21; 4:25), and of individuals (1 Sam. 2:6; Ps. 18:30; Luke 1:53; James 4: 13-15). It extends also to the free actions of men (Ex. 12:36; 1 Sam. 24:9-15; Ps. 33:14, 15; Prov. 16:1; 19:21; 20:24; 21:1), and things sinful (2 Sam. 16:10; 24:1; Rom. 11:32; Acts 4:27, 28), as well as to their good actions (Phil. 2:13; 4:13; 2 Cor. 12:9, 10; Eph. 2:10; Gal. 5: 22-25). As regards sinful actions of men, they are represented as occurring by God's permission (Gen. 45:5; 50:20. Comp. 1 Sam. 6:6; Ex. 7:13; 14:17; Acts 2:3; 3:18; 4:27, 28), and as controlled (Ps. 76:10) and overruled for good (Gen. 50:20; Acts 3:13). -Easton's Bible Dictionary at www.monergism.com.