Extraordinary Promises

by Loraine Boettner

There is another class of events recorded in scripture which may be more accurately referred to not as miracles but as “extraordinary providences.” In these cases, the Lord simply directs the forces which are already at work in nature so that they serve His purposes. Examples are most of the plagues which came on the Egyptians, the flight of quails which brought meat to the Israelites in the wilderness, the fall of the walls of Jericho if by an earthquake, the great draught of fishes recorded in the Gospels, the rolling away of the stone from the mouth of the tomb of Jesus on the resurrection morning which Matthew specifically tells us was caused by an earthquake, etc.

The importance of these events is not lessened by their being put in a separate class, for while not strictly miraculous, they do give clear evidence of Divine intervention. There was nothing miraculous, for instance in the locust plague considered in itself, for such plagues have continued to visit Egypt even to the present day; but when the plague came at the exact time that Moses as the Lord’s spokesman had said that it would come, and departed at the appointed time, or when the quails came in great numbers to the right place and at the very time Moses had promised, or when the walls of Jericho fell at the appointed time, then, these events, taken in connection with the words of the prophet, became as clear evidence of Divine intervention as if they had been pure miracles. They proved the prophet to be the messenger of Him who controls the laws of nature and uses them to serve His purposes.

Throughout the Bible the laws of nature, the course of nations, the varying fortunes of individuals, are ever attributed to God’s providential control. All things, both in heaven and earth, from the seraphim down to the tiny atom, are ordered by His never-failing providence. So intimate is His relationship with the whole creation that a careless reader might be led toward pantheistic conclusions. (That God is nature and nature is God). Yet individual personalities and second causes are fully recognised – not as independent of God, but as having their proper place in His plan. “To suppose that anything is too great to be comprehended in His control,” says Dr Charles Hodge, “or anything so minute as to escape His notice; or that the infinitude of particulars can distract His attention, is to forget that God is infinite. … The sun diffuses its light through all space as easily as upon any one point,. God is as much present everywhere, and with everything, as though He were only in one place, and had but one object of attention.” And again, “He is present in every blade of grass, yet guiding Arcturus in his course, marshalling the stars as a host, calling them by their names; present also in every human soul, giving it understanding, endowing it with gifts, working in it both to will and to do. The human heart is in His hands; and He turneth it even as the rivers of water are turned.”

And with this agree the Scriptures, for we read, “Jehovah doeth His will in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet,” Nahum 1:3. “He maketh His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust,” Matthew 5:45. The famine in Egypt appeared to men to be only the result of natural causes; yet Joseph could say, “The thing is established of God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” The Lord sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions so that they should not hurt Daniel, Daniel 6:22. “Behold the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance; behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing,” Isaiah 40:15. “He changeth the times and the season; He removeth kings, and setteth up kings,” Daniel 2:21. “A man’s heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps,” Proverbs 16:9. “It is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure,” Philippians 2:13.