The Simplicity of Providence
As we read the story of Joseph and concentrate attention first of all on the narrative as ordinary history, we see nothing whatever but the obvious, the natural, the simple and the straightforward. A famine caused a family to leave home and sojourn in a strange land. They came there under perfectly usual circumstances, and never expected to remain longer than the years of special need. Everything is quite clear and straightforward, with no circumstance left unexplained; and yet with it all we can see, as we review the story, that God in His providence was taking hold of these everyday events, and weaving them into His own divine pattern for Israel. How true this is to life is at once clear to us all. The smallest experiences of our everyday life may form part of a mighty and far-reaching Providence. We pay a visit, intending to stay a week, and then we are led to take up our abode in that place, with all the course of our life entirely altered from that day forward. Or it may be that into the even tenor of our life comes a letter with a simple request which has very far-reaching effects, changing not one life but several. It is all perfectly simple and yet perfectly divine; and though, as we review our pathway in the retrospect, we can see nothing in detail that has been marvellous or out of the way, yet the sum-total of everything stands out as an astonishing example of the providence of God. Let us cultivate the habit of investing every detail of life with significance. and try to learn the precise lessons that God desires to teach us. Let us refuse to limit God and His providence to the great occasions of life. and let us believe that nothing can come across our pathway unless it is in some way or other part of His loving and wise will concerning us.