EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2026
9:37 PM
My
Worship Time
Focus: “Divine Providence”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
7:12
Message
of the verse: “Now
as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the
only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city
was with her.”
Whenever I think about the total control that God has
over this planet we live on and the people who live on it, then it just blows
my mind. His superintending control over
all human choices, actions, and events to effect His predetermined purposes is
known as His providence. Now unlike a
miracle, when God supernaturally interrupts or suspends the natural events to
infallibly bring about His purposes.
Given the staggering complexities involved in coordinating even
relatively simple events, God’s providence is in some ways even more awe
inspiring than the miracles He performs.
I have mentioned that whenever I think about the events that took place
in my life, and my families lives as my wife continued to go down hill
physically at a rapid pace we all knew that God was surely in control of all of
this and the hand writing was on the wall so to speak that she was going to
loose her battle with cancer but then immediately after her death which was on
July 29th of this year at 9:36 on that morning the Lord took her
home to be with her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. This was all in the plan of God from even
before He created the world. I don’t
understand it all, but I do trust the Lord in what he had planned for my wife,
and I know that it does bring glory to His name, and the best thing is that I
will see her again either at the rapture, or at my death.
Looking at this section and
listening to the sermon on my walk today it has reinforced my trust in the Lord
to work things out for His glory and for my good.
God’s providential control over
events flows directly from His sovereign authority, omnipotence, and omniscience. “The mind of man plans his way,’ says
Proverbs 16:9, “but the Lord directs his steps,” while verse 33 adds another
illustration: “The lot is cast into the
lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” Proverbs 21:1 reveals that God’s
providential control over human events extends to rulers: “The king’s heart is like channels of water
in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.” One example is Cyrus, ruler of the Persian
empire:
“22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king
of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of
Jeremiah—the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so
that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in
writing, saying, 23 “This is what Cyrus king of
Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms
of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which
is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may
the Lord his God be with him; go up then!’”
Though God
is not the author of evil (Hab. 1:13), even calamities are under His control,
as the prophet Amos notes: “If a
calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?” (Amos 3:6).
It was one such calamity, whose events God sovereignly ordained in
keeping with His purposes, that is the subject of this passage.
MacArthur writes “Although a village
the size of Nain probably would not have hand a wall around it, Nain did have a
gate. Located at the head of the
main street, the gate served as a point of entrance for the city. It was also the place where people gathered
to socialize, and where the elders met to adjudicate matters (cf. Deut.
25:7-10; Ruth 4:1-11; Isa. 29:21).”
(cf. Deut. 25:7-10; Ruth 4:1-11; Isa.
29:21)
“7 And if the man does not wish to take his
brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders
and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in
Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him
and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’
9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to
him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in
his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who
does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his house shall be called in
Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’”
“1 ¶ Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down
there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz
said, "Turn aside, friend; sit down here." And he turned aside and
sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the
elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." So they sat down.
3 Then he said to the redeemer,
"Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel
of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say,
‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders
of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me,
that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after
you." And he said, "I will redeem it." 5 Then Boaz said, "The day you buy the
field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of
the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance."
6 Then the redeemer said, "I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of
redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it." 7 Now this was the custom in former times in
Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one
drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of
attesting in Israel. 8 So when the
redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself," he drew off his sandal.
9 ¶ Then Boaz said to the elders and all
the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand
of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to
Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the
widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the
dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from
among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses
this day." 11 Then all the people
who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD
make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together
built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned
in Bethlehem,”
“21 who by a word make a man out to be an
offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty
plea turn aside him who is in the right.”
“In God’s
providential timing, Jesus and His entourage approached the gate of the city after their journey from
Capernaum just as a dead man was being carried out. The funeral was over, and the people were
removing the corpse on a bier or stretcher to the burial site outside of town.” This is where I will end this SD and Lord
willing pick up on the morning the rest of it.
8/14/2026
10:05 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment