All year I've been teaching Sunday School for the 4th and 5th graders in my church. Each week the 6 of us spend 45 minutes together talking about the providence of God. And almost every week, we reiterate that God sees (who we are, what we need) and He acts (to display His glory even in the world today). And I think that's right and true.
But there's one part that I feel like we miss. I feel like when we talk only about Him displaying His glory we neglect to talk about what that feels like to us, His redeemed people. And I think what it feels like is Psalm 121. When I know that God sees who I am and what I need, I can trust that His actions are for me. Look at how many times the Psalmist says that God is our keeper in this psalm. So, yes it's true that He is glorified in His keeping (of me, of His promises), but it's also true that to me, His providence feels like He's keeping me.
I can get mixed up. I can think that I have to do parts of it on my own. That, somehow, standing on my own two feet will somehow please Him. That mustering up my own works will somehow make Him happy with me. Peterson says it this way:
We practice patent-medicine religion: we know that God created the universe and has accomplished our eternal salvation. But we can't believe that he condescends to watch the soap opera of our daily trials and tribulations; so we purchase our own remedies for that (p. 40).But when I know that He is keeping me (even in my soap opera life), that He is for me, I can move closer to trusting and walking in that trust. I can know that I am being kept.
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