Providence and PDF's

It is not always the best idea to 'determine' God's love for us by providences. As the puritan Thomas Wilcox once wrote, 'Judge not Christ's love by providences, but by promises'. In other words, our most reliable source of comfort and assurance are God's promises laid out for us in Scripture. A hyper-reliance on our ability to trace the hand of providence may confuse more than it comforts.

That being said, Romans 8:28 is still true: 'And we know that God works all things for the good of those that love Him...' We can always trust that everything (notice the two superlatives) is working both for our good and for God's glory even if we cannot begin to fathom why or how.

I say this because I have seen God's hand of provision recently and I just want to rejoice in his promise and his providence. I will start with the problem and then show how God was working it out long before I knew I had a problem:

Background info:
I am going on a research trip next week. I will be gone to Ipswich from Sunday to Thursday. The purpose of the trip is to study a BUNCH of really old sermons owned by the subject of my thesis. In preparation for the trip, I needed to create my own copy of these sermons so I can copy all of his original margin notes onto my personal copy for study (that way I do not need to go back). I was able to find all of the sermons on a database called Early English Books Online and I saved them to my computer (all of this is legal by the way).

Problem:
I needed to print all of these so I could copy the notes as they were in the original. This meant I would have to print over 1000 pages at a pretty high cost...a cost that we could not really cover right now. Then I would have to carry these two huge binders with me everywhere I went in Ipswich.

Providential Solution:
1) A Church called Barnton Baptist is without a pastor.
2) Many months ago they contacted our associate pastor and asked him to preach for them on Feb. 17. He agreed.
3) Due to another pressing matter our associate pastor found he could not keep the date and needed someone to fill in for him.
4) He contacted me. I agreed to fill in for him.
5) We went to the church on Feb. 17. I preached.
6) After the service a very sweet family asked us to their house for lunch. We did not have transportation so we almost said we could not go.
7) Someone agreed to take us to the family's home for lunch.
8) We ate lunch.
9) After lunch we sat and talked with them for about 3 hours.
10) The man of the house tells me he has something he would like to give me.
11) He gives me a promotional copy of some software his company develops. The software converts PDF documents into other forms and also allows a lot of manipulation of a PDF document (more than Adobe; pretty much anything you could do with a pencil). I take it, not really knowing what I would ever do with it.
12) We get home, I place the softeware on the desk and think I might install it sometime soon.
13) This week I downloaded almost 60 sermons and was stressing about how I was going to print them and carry them everywhere in Ipswich.
14) I say this to Krisy last night: 'If only there was a way for me to create the notes and underlining in the computer file itself so I would not have to print all of these things out...........'
15) A light dawns.
16) I read the back of the software and see that it will do exactly what I need to do in order to recreate the notes verbatim without every printing a sheet or carrying a binder.
17) I install it quickly while singing something like 'God moves in a myserious way, His wonders to perform'.
18) I will write this man an e-mail tomorrow (Lord willing) and let him know what a blessing this software turned out to be.

Again, I have not fully interpreted all that the Lord has done, is doing, or will do in this experience. There may have been a million little providences in this narrative of which I took no note, and for which I gave no thanks. But I certainly want to give thanks for this one.

I close with the great hymn by William Cowper:


God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.