Rev. Jared Buss
Pittsburgh New Church; January 28, 2024
Readings: Psalm 46; True Christian Religion §766
Today’s sermon is about the stream of providence. We’ll begin by reading forty-sixth psalm [read].
This psalm is a psalm of reassurance—a promise that the Lord is God, and that because He is God, it’s okay if we aren’t strong enough. Often when we turn our thoughts to religion, we end up focusing on what we need to do—or on what we’re supposed to do. We hear God’s ideals, and we try to measure up to them, and we worry that we can’t. It’s easy for us to feel inadequate, or overwhelmed by what we have to do; it isn’t as easy for us to recognize the power of the ally that we have in God. His providence is overall—everywhere, in all things (AC §8478.4). “His providence” means everything that He does to provide for us, everything that He does to care for us. If we want to, we can be in the stream of that providence.
The words “the stream of providence” come from the Heavenly Doctrine, from the book Arcana Coelestia, in which we read, “People in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things…. Those in the stream of providence are people who trust in the Divine and ascribe everything to Him” (§8478.4). Another passage from the Heavenly Doctrine says: “The Lord does not clearly appear in His Divine providence, but draws a person along by it as silently as a hidden current or favorable stream draws a ship” (DP §186). There’s a lot that this image suggests to us, if we unpack it. If you’ve ever had the experience of being carried by a river current, you’re off to a good start. That feeling of being borne along by something bigger than you that’s all around you is evocative. The question is, how powerful is that current? When we say “stream of providence” we can be picturing a mountain brook or a mighty river. How strong is the stream of providence?
Another way to ask the same question is to ask, how persistent is the Lord? In the book of Revelation He says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). How persistently does the Lord knock? How long will He wait outside the door before He gives up and goes away? The underlaying question here is, how hard does the Lord try to have things go His way? How long does He knock? How hard does He push? How strong is the current that flows from Him?
We’re taught over and over in the Heavenly Doctrine that our freedom is sacred, and that the Lord guards it fiercely. He will not let anyone make our spiritual decisions for us, and He certainly won’t overrule or overpower them Himself. He keeps our spirits in a state of equilibrium, so that the forces pushing us towards hell are perfectly matched by forces pushing us towards heaven; and that means that we are totally free to go whichever direction we choose. This teaching sometimes leaves us with the impression that the Lord is hanging back—that He’s staying out of our lives, letting us work it out on our own.
What the Doctrine actually tells us is totally different. Our next reading is from True Christian Religion. We read: [§766].
This idea that the Lord is urging and pressing to be received is connected with the idea that He is knocking. In another passage we read, “That the Lord continually urges and presses a person to open the door to Him is apparent from the Lord’s words in the book of Revelation: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’” (DP §119). He is urging and pressing at the door. He isn’t hanging back, waiting to see if it occurs to us to get up and check the door. He is making Himself known, making Himself felt. In the Word He teaches us to be persistent, and knock until we’re answered (Luke 11:5-8). Surely He’s going to take His own advice. And because He’s God, He is endlessly patient. If you were waiting on a doorstep and no one was answering, how long would you stand there before you gave up? Two minutes? The Lord is truly willing to stand on our doorstep for our entire lives. He is not going to give up on us.
He’s also never going to open the door without our permission. He always honors our freedom, and that idea is so important. Without freedom we’d be nothing. He could break down the door in an instant. The stream of providence could be a flood that washes everything away. But who wants their door to be broken down, or to be swept away in a flood? If the Lord were to force His will on us, He’d destroy His relationship with us, and that’s the opposite of what He wants. So He always honors our freedom.
Besides, it would be too easy for Him to break down the door, or turn the stream of providence into a tsunami. When you’re God Almighty, blunt force isn’t impressive. What is impressive is His ability to guide us powerfully and constantly without ever forcing our hand. He never pushes us to take a step that we haven’t consented to. It’s that combination of power and precision, strength and a tender willingness to yield, that makes His providence astonishing.
Our freedom is so important to Him that by default He leaves us with the appearance that the ball is in our court—that it’s on us to take the initiative. The truth is that He’s always seeking us, always knocking at our door, but in the Gospel of Matthew He says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (7:7). He tells us to seek Him out. The truth is that He always acts first, but He doesn’t force us to see that. He doesn’t reveal the power of His presence in our lives until we have freely chosen to seek Him out, to open our eyes to Him. And in the meantime He’s willing to be invisible, for the sake of our freedom.
This idea is important, because it explains why we tend not to see the hand of God at work in this world. The thing is, because we tend not to see Him, we also tend to forget just how much He wants to save us. He loves us too much to overturn our freedom; He also loves us too much to give us up without a fight. In the Heavenly Doctrine we’re told:
[The Lord is] love itself, to which no other attributes are appropriate than those of pure love and so of pure mercy towards the whole human race, that mercy being such that it wills to save all people, to make them eternally happy, and to impart to them all that is its own—thus out of pure mercy and by the mighty power of love to draw towards heaven, that is, towards Itself, all who are willing to follow. (AC §1735)
We know that the Lord is love. We also know that love is gentle. How often do we acknowledge what a force to be reckoned with love is? Think of your own deepest loves—they don’t back down. Not when the thing you love is at stake. The Lord’s love is as patient and as gentle as we need it to be; but His love is also a mighty stream, an unstoppable stream. All that power is striving to save us. He wants what He wants; He’s not going to back down, not going to quit just because we’re stubborn. He’s going to stand at the door and knock; He’s going to wait at the edge of our experience, pressing and urging to be received.
When we look at the world, we see a lot that isn’t what God wants. We see wars and greed and corruption. We see people who are hurting, and often we’re among them. The arc of our lives doesn’t always look great. And sometimes, when we’re looking at the messes, the only true thing that anyone can say is, “the Lord didn’t want this.” There are a lot of things that happen in this world that He doesn’t want.
But is it possible that, in spite of that, the Lord’s will is done far more often than not? Because if a person struggles in this world, dealing with heartache and loss, but underneath it all the Lord is making them into an angel, then is there more sorrow or more joy at the end of that story? Is that story a tragedy or a triumph? When we look at the world it’s easy to see the things that God doesn’t want; it isn’t as easy to keep sight of the things that He does want. His goal is to teach us to love. His goal is to heal our souls. His goal is to lift us up from the dust of this world and make us angels. And how much of that is going on right now, right before our eyes, while we’re distracted by traffic and taxes? Isn’t it possible that most of the time He’s taking us exactly where we need to go, in spite of all the pieces on the outside that are out of place?
After all, He is Almighty God. He wants to save us—He wants it very much—and He’s good at what He does. He is willing to admit defeat, as it were—willing to let us go, if that is truly what we choose. But how often do you think He has to?
For our part, we do have work to do. Religion is about what we do. We have to seek the Lord; we have to get up and open the door for Him. But it’s also true that this world is in really good hands no matter what we do—no matter how badly we mess up—and sometimes what we need to do is let go and fall back on the knowledge that God has got this, and He is good at what He does. Sometimes we need to hold still and feel the current that is carrying us. That’s why Moses, at the edge of the Red Sea, told the Children of Israel, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Ex. 14:13). And in the forty-sixth psalm the Lord says, “Be still and know that I am God” (v. 10).
That Psalm also says, “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God” (46:4). That river flows through our lives from the moment we’re born, even to eternity. It’s a river of truth, a river of mercy, a river of love flowing out from God, and the current is strong. It’s stronger than politics, stronger than war, stronger than death; it’s stronger than our griefs and our failures. It’s sweeping by those things, passing them by on its way to something far more permanent. It will carry us, as long as we’re willing; and the Lord will never stop urging us to step into the stream. He says:
Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; and I will carry, and I will deliver you. (Is. 46:3, 4)
Amen.