Ways of Providnce

We have a case in the very opposite direction in the case of these same two men with the parts reversed. Saul hunting David falls into David’s power. A loose interpreter of providence would have said “Now is your opportunity, David: God works by means: he has put Saul in your power: slay him.” In fact this very advice was given him. “The men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee.” What was David’s answer? “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord” (24:4, 6). Saul tried to force providence. Here we have David apparently retiring before it. What is this lesson? A very important one—that we must govern all our interpretations of the ways of providence by the prior question of righteousness. A good opportunity is no justification for doing a thing if that thing be wrong by any of the laws of God. God works by means but not by wrong means; and therefore in judging of His will in our affairs, we must always have Paul’s question before our eyes: “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” We may be quite sure that it is not His will that we should in any position or circumstance do what He has forbidden, or leave undone what He has commanded. Our safety therefore lies in making ourselves constantly familiar with His commandments. By this we shall be protected from false interpretations of “providence”, and enabled to walk wisely in all the changing phases of life.

Roberts, R. (1990). The Ways of Providence (p. 122). Birmingham: The Christadelphian.