God’s Providence

God controls all events, whether good or bad

Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it! Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives. Perhaps you will say that while this is true for certain things, but not things that result from the free will of man. If someone strikes me persecute me robs me, how can that be attributed to an all Loving God?  This is the excuse we use to try to shelter us from God, and is our lack of courage to fully submit to God. You might say how can God take part in these sinful actions? God Indeed is not and cannot be the author of sin. Every sin has two parts, the natural and the moral. For example the movement of the arm of a man that strikes you. The physical movement of the arm is good and the same movement could reach out and save you. The moral movement of the arm with sinful intensions is evil and God cannot cooperate with that.  It is the will of man through his sinful intensions that contributes to that act.

Our trials are never greater than our strength to bear them

Do not be troubled when adversity happens, for it is meant for our spiritual welfare and carefully proportioned to our needs.  Did not Christ have to suffer all these things before entering into his glory?  You are like a block of marble in the hands of a sculptor. The sculptor must chip and smooth it in to a work of art. His chisel will never strike the slightest blow that is not needed for his purpose and our sanctification.

We gain great advantages when we conform to the will of God

Our sanctification is God’s aim in all His dealing with us. “Thou shall love the lord thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul and thy whole mind.”  The chief effect of love is to unite the hearts of those who love each other so that they have the same will.  Hence the more we submit to God’s designs for us the more we advance towards perfection.  When we pray we should think only of doing everything to confirm our will to God’s. To find the secret of happiness and content do not ask for things to be done as we would like them but as God wishes. In order for us to enjoy peace and calm we need to have nothing opposing our will  and everything done in the way we want it.  But who can expect to have such happiness except the man whose will is entirely conformed to the will of God? Every will that tries to oppose the will of God is bound be become overcome and broken and will end in humility or bitterness.
He whose will is perfectly united to God’s possesses the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

Conforming to God’s Will

How do we conform to God’s will? First keep His commandments. Secondly let look at some practical examples:

In our daily lives

We can start to conform to God’s will by putting up with the daily annoyances such as words that would hurt our self esteem, a barking dog, stubbing a toe, a light burning out, a pen that won’t write etc.  We should accept whatever kind of weather God sends us. It’s not awful heat or terrible cold. It’s Gods weather. It is even more important to practice conformity to God’s will in the small things than larger ones both because  they are more frequent and they form the habit of supporting them in a Christian spirit to prepare for more serious  difficulties.

Disasters or War  

God of infinite Goodness would not send such disasters unless some great good were to result from them. Consider how many souls may be saves though the tribulations.   How many people through affliction are converted to God?  What appears to be a punishment is often a sign of grace and mercy.
Let us meditate on this truth of our faith that the very hairs on our head are numbered and not one of them will fall except by the will of God. We have nothing more or less to fear in times of calamity than at any other time. The only thing we need to be concern about is to gain his favor by conforming to His will.

Loss of Employment or Money The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away.

We should accept with the same conformity to the will of God the loss of employment or money and all other set-backs in our temporal affairs repeating with faith the words of Job: The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away.  Christians were deprived of rank and position lost their possessions torn from their families, thrown into prison, and sent to execution all for their faith in Christ. They went their way rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. It is the same with regard to money matters.  If it is God’s will be happy to sacrifice for the sake of God’s will.

In Poverty

We should conform to God's will in poverty and all the inconveniences. It is not too hard to do so if we fully realize that God watches over us as a father over his children. He puts us in that condition because it is of most value to us.
Are we not the children of the God of riches, the co-heirs of Christ? Being so, is there anything we can lack? Everything then is ours. We have everything God has to offer.
But it is often necessary we should be deprived of many things. Let us firmly believe that if anything is necessary or really useful for us, our all-powerful Father will give it to us without fail. The Lord said: If you evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father...? (Luke 11:13 )

Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat He tells us, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they?... And as for clothing, why are you anxious? Consider how the lilies of the field grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which flourishes today but tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more you, O you of little faith! Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink? or 'What are we to put on?', for after all these things the Gentiles seek; but your Father knows that you need all these things. (Matt 6:25-32; Luke 12:22-30)