Providence or providence… July 8… and Hope…
As most people know I use the application called “Dragon Speak.” Which in my case probably has a bit of a notorious reputation for misinterpreting words that I speak, and automatically typing them is something entirely different and often indiscernible. Some of these faux pas’s are hilarious while others are embarrassing… and still others are completely incomprehensible. [i.e., How did “4 youth” end up “for use”???!!!]
One thing has been consistent about Dragon Speak – whenever I say the word “Providence” the software almost always types it with a capital “P.”
Typically that bothers me, for I intend to use the word not speaking of the capital of Rhode Island, nor am I speaking of a proper noun for God as “Providence,” (which to my knowledge has no direct connection with any original Biblical Name for God, although God’s sacred name Yahweh comes close). Rather I’m talking about God’s action and direction of our lives, and His orchestrating creation itself.
Scripturally there is a place for free will – in fact sin is free will, succumbing to demonic influence. “The devil made me do it…” is not really theologically accurate. The more cumbersome and almost never heard: “I did it, after listening to the devil’s advice…” is more accurate. Even in free will, God is acting.
Most dictionaries tell us that the word “Providence/providence” is used both in capitalized and lowercase forms. Another troubling consistency about those dictionaries are that when it is used with a capital “P” the dictionaries tell us that “Providence is the protective power of God or nature…” For me, and most Christians, giving “nature” a capital letter, is similar to Carl Sagan capitalizing Cosmos – where nature itself takes on divine attributes, and godlike character. St. Paul by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, criticized this distorted view of nature, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25)
Anytime we glorify or magnify creation above the Creator, we have become idolaters.
The entire reason I ended up down this rabbit hole has to do with my search of the date “July 8.” On this date in 1663 Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, granted a royal charter to Rhode Island. The history of Rhode Island is somewhat fascinating, beginning in 1523-24 when an Italian explorer working for the French gave the name “Rhode Island” to the largest island in the Narragansett Bay, which today no longer has the name “Rhode Island,” but instead is called “Aquidneck Island,” (a Narragansett tribe name of unknown meaning). The Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, thought the Island looked like the Greek island of Rhodes, hence: “Rhode Island.”
While the state is not in fact an island, you may be surprised to know that up until two years ago the actual formal name for the state of Rhode Island was, “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” The irony of the name change is that state citizens dreaded the word “plantations,” tainted by the history of slavery, yet it had no association with Providence Plantations, which never used slaves.
It was a Puritan minister – Roger Williams – who came to America seeking religious freedom, who purchased land from local native tribes, gave the name “Providence Plantations” to the section of land at the north end of the bay; believing firmly that God’s providence had taken him from a corrupted church, across the ocean, through all sorts of trials such as imprisonment, false allegations, illness, and blessing – such as the protection and provision of his friends in the native tribes whom he had always dealt honestly with (purchasing land from native tribes was not the normal European way).
Divine providence was acting through all of that turmoil.
Early on, Roger Williams began using what has become the state flag for Rhode Island, as the seal for legal transactions. Of course being located on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounding the very large Narragansett Bay, and engaged in various shipping and fishing industries, a nautical motif fits.
But Williams intentionally put the anchor on the seal, with the word “hope” because he was referencing a passage from Hebrews 6 – “… so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil…”
Unfortunately, both the verse, and the citation from the state flag entry in Wikipedia, ends with verse 19. But the complete hope is found in verse 20, “ where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 6:20)
This “living hope” reference is related to the annual solo sojourn of the high priest, into the holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was found. Jewish rabbinical tradition teaches us that the high priest would tie a rope around his leg, before entering the holy of holies, lest he be somehow failing in his preparation and die in the presence of God, (no one else would be permitted to go in and take the body out, hence the plan was simply to pull the dead body out with the rope). But because Christ has gone into the grave, and emerged alive, all who hope in Him have a living hope, even when the shadow of death touches our life. God’s providence is part of both living and dying, and we see Providence acting in Christ, to give us a hope which is only available through faith in Him. When we go into the grave, we will certainly emerge alive, as our Lord did on Easter. Thank God for His providence in Christ!