Part Nineteen:  God’s Providence Is Clearly Revealed in Nature

Generally speaking, divine providence is usually thought of as God personally overseeing and directing human activities and history, ultimately bringing all creation to its divinely determined goal (Rom. 8: 19-23). But providence also includes God actively upholding and sustaining all of nature through orderly, dependable, universal laws of nature, which He created to govern the universe (e.g. the laws of physics). This ensures that nature maintains its ecological harmony and equilibrium, guaranteeing the continual survival of plants, animals, and the human race. The Bible gives numerous examples of this, as even a cursory survey of Scripture reveals.

The Psalms record that God “makes springs pour water into the ravines,” “waters the mountains,” and that all animals look to Him “to give them their food at the proper time” (Ps. 104; 10, 13. 27, respectively). Other writers recount that God “cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm” (Job 38:35). It is God “who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar” (Jer. 31:35). God set up the seasons of the year (Gen. 8:22) and appointed the time for harvest (Jer. 5:24). Lightning, hail, snow, clouds, and stormy winds all operate at God’s bidding (Ps. 148:8). He sends rain and makes grass grow on the mountains (Ps. 147:8); causes the snow to melt in spring (Ps. 147:18); and gives flowers their beauty (Matt. 6:29–30). God gives life to all animals, establishes their territories, and provides their daily food. (Job 38:25; Job 38:41; Ps. 104:14–30; Joel 2:22, respectively). In short, all natural phenomena reflect God’s continuous activity in nature.

Remarkably, in recent decades, a huge amount of new scientific data has been discovered that make God’s providence in nature abundantly clear. There are many dozens of universal “constants” in place throughout the universe and planet Earth, all manifestations of God-ordained  laws of nature. For example, if the speed of light were slightly faster or slower, other constants in the universe would be altered, making any kind of life impossible; if the centrifugal force of planets rotating around the sun did not balance exactly with gravitational forces, the plants would not remain in orbit; if the chemical composition of the atmosphere were different, the atmosphere would be poisonous.

If any one of these constants was slightly altered, the universe could not exist. Without exception, every one of them is absolutely essential for the continuing stability of the cosmos and for life to exist on Earth. Only God’s providence, superintending creation through ordained laws of nature, can account for such phenomena.

The universe is not a self-contained, self-organized system of randomly evolving physical laws. The laws of nature could not have evolved from nothing, and they must have existed prior to these universal constants. In short, the universe’s existence depends moment by moment on the attention and vigilance of God’s continuous care, sustaining power, and love: His providence. As the Apostle Paul wrote, God (through Jesus Christ) “is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col.1:17). ©

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