Genesis
50:19-20 Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am
I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it
for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are
today.”
God, who created everything, also upholds
everything. He directs, regulates, and governs every creature, action, and
thing, from the greatest to the least, by his completely wise and holy providence.
He does so in accordance with his infallible foreknowledge and the voluntary, unchangeable
purpose of his own will, all to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice,
goodness, and mercy.
God’s providence extends even to the fall and to all
other sins of angels and men. These sins are not simply allowed by God, but are
bound, ordered, and governed by him in the fullness of his wisdom and power so
that they fulfill his own holy purposes. However, the sinfulness still belongs
to the creature and does not proceed from God, whose holy righteousness does
not and cannot cause or approve sin
In the fullness of his wisdom, righteousness, and
grace God often allows his own children to be tempted in various ways and for a
time to pursue the corruption of their own hearts. God does this to chastise
them for their previous sins and to reveal to them the hidden strength of corruption
and deceitfulness in their hearts, so that they may be humbled. In addition to various
other just and holy results, believers are thereby raised to a closer and more
constant dependence on God for their support and are also made more alert in
detecting and resisting opportunities to sin.
It
is different for the wicked and the ungodly. As punishment for their previous
sins, God, the righteous judge, spiritually blinds and hardens them in their
own sinfulness. From them God not only withdraws his grace, by which they might
have been spiritually enlightened, but sometimes he also withdraws whatever
gift of spiritual understanding they already had and deliberately exposes them
to the opportunities for sinning which their corrupt nature naturally seeks. He
thereby gives them over to their own desires, to the temptations of the world,
and to the power of Satan, and so it happens that they harden themselves even
under those circumstances which God uses to soften others.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith
