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God’s Good Providence
Ezra 6:14 “They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.”

Those opposed to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem during 520BC appealed to King Darius, protesting the Israelites’ apparently unauthorized work. However, instead of stopping their work, Darius, decreed that the temple should be built, and moreover, that those local Persian officials should help fund it! 

Here we see the providence of God at work. But, who built the temple? Was it the decree of God? The decree of Darius? The hands of the hardworking Israelites? Yes! Yes, is the only right and biblical answer. 

We tend to think of any event as being caused by only one will. But in reality there are often many causes that contribute to any event. 

If I hire a contractor to put a new roof on my house, then my hiring them might be called the first cause. If the contractor then employees a team, the contractor is an intermediate cause. The team who hammers the shingles on the roof is the final cause. Who caused the roof to be replaced? All of us! 

With apologies to Aristotle: God’s decree is the first cause. Darius and the other kings’ decrees are an intermediate cause. The people’s work on the temple, we might call the final cause. 

Here is the providence of God, defined in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.” We hear that and wonder, “Then does human will not matter?”


What we see here is what is sometimes known as the confluence of Divine and human wills. God decrees, but he does so in such as way that leaves human will still free. As the Westminster Confession (3:1) says, God’s decree does not violate “the will of the creatures” or “the liberty or contingency of second causes.” God is in charge, yet we are free moral agents. 


This is the beauty of the providence of God. He works out his own good ends through our wills, and even our many sins. As one pastor friend used to say, “God draws a straight lick, with a crooked stick.” Amen! So, we rest in the good providence of our loving heavenly Father. No matter what others around us will—or decree—God decrees good for his people.