The Mystery of God’s Providence

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4

The Lord is the one and only God: “This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6). The gods of the enemies of God’s Old Testament people were only idols of “gold or silver or stone” crafted “by human design and skill” (Acts 17:29), lifeless images that personified the forces of nature in a futile attempt to make sense of life. “See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion” (Isaiah 41:29).

What Isaiah writes in the verse we are considering today includes that foundational truth that the true God is the only God there is; there are no other gods. Isaiah builds on that foundation with the thought that God alone “acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” He is the only God who exists, and he is unlike any god of a religion with human origins because he intervenes for those who believe in him.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about “God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Corinthians 2:7). He then echoed what Isaiah wrote to reflect on that mystery: “‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Revealed to us by God’s Spirit is the mystery of the gospel. As a result, we do not cower before an angry god who demands sacrifices and good deeds out of us to atone for our sins. Instead, we bow in amazement before the God who acts in love and mercy.

He acted 2,000 years ago when the Son took on our flesh to live a perfect life in our place and die on a cross to pay the wages of our sin. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and his resurrection demonstrates that the sin of the world has been taken away. That mystery is divine!

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,
within my heart, made clean and new,
a quiet chamber kept for you. Amen.
[CW 331:13]

Dr. Lawrence Olson serves Martin Luther College as director of the Staff Ministry Program
and the Congregational Assistant Program.