The Terrible Providence of God Text: Psalm 105:23-25
Introduction: The Unblinking God
We live in a sentimental age. Our generation wants a God who is manageable, a God who fits neatly into our categories of what is nice, what is comfortable, and what is safe. We want a divine grandfather who pats us on the head, not a sovereign King who rules the universe with absolute authority. We want a God who is a co-pilot, not the pilot. We want a God who suggests, but never decrees. This modern deity is a God of our own making, an idol carved out of therapeutic platitudes and syrupy worship songs. And he is utterly useless. He cannot save, and he cannot govern.
The God of the Bible, however, is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. He is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways. And this is our great comfort. The psalms, perhaps more than any other book, refuse to let us domesticate God. They present us with the unvarnished reality of His sovereign rule over every molecule and every moment, including the dark and difficult ones. The psalms are full of hard providences, perplexing judgments, and uncomfortable truths. They force us to grapple with a God who is really God.
Our text this morning is one of those places where the rubber of our theology meets the road of reality. It is a text that makes the modern evangelical squirm. It is a text that cannot be reconciled with a god who is a mere bystander in human affairs. It speaks of God's direct, authorial, and sovereign hand in the hatred and persecution of His own people. This is not a truth to be softened, explained away, or apologized for. It is a truth to be faced, believed, and trusted. For in the unblinking sovereignty of God, even in the hatred of our enemies, we find our only true security. If God is not in charge of the opposition, then we are left to the mercy of chaos, which is to say, no mercy at all.
Psalm 105 is a hymn of remembrance. It recounts God's covenant faithfulness to Israel, from Abraham to the Exodus. It is a call to "give thanks unto the Lord" and to "remember his marvelous works." And right in the middle of this celebration of God's goodness, we find these startling verses. They are not a footnote or an anomaly; they are central to the story. They teach us that the God who blesses His people is the same God who orchestrates the opposition to them, all for His own wise and glorious purposes.
The Text
Then Israel came to Egypt;
And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And He caused His people to be very fruitful,
And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries.
He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His slaves.
(Psalm 105:23-25 LSB)
Sojourning and Fruitfulness (v. 23-24)
We begin with the historical setting, the move to Egypt and the subsequent blessing of God.
"Then Israel came to Egypt; And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries." (Psalm 105:23-24)
The story begins with a journey of faith and providence. "Israel came to Egypt." This was not an accident. It was the outworking of God's intricate plan, a plan that involved a famine, a jealous band of brothers, a pit, a slave caravan, and a providential rise to power. Joseph had already told his brothers, "God sent me before you to preserve life... you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 45:5, 50:20). This is the consistent testimony of Scripture: men act according to their own desires, whether righteous or wicked, and yet they fulfill the determinate counsel of God.
Jacob and his family "sojourned in the land of Ham." Ham was the father of Mizraim, the progenitor of the Egyptians. The psalmist is reminding us that Israel was a guest in a foreign land, a stranger in a strange country. They were aliens, dependent on the hospitality of their hosts. But more importantly, they were dependent on the covenant promises of their God.
And God was faithful. Verse 24 is emphatic. "And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries." Notice the active agent here. It was not a happy coincidence. It was not because of the superior Israelite diet or their sterling work ethic. "He caused" them to be fruitful. "He caused" them to be stronger. This is the language of divine sovereignty. God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He put them in the incubator of Egypt, and He blessed them with explosive growth. This is what God does. He takes a small, insignificant family and makes them a great nation.
This fruitfulness, this strength, was a direct gift from God. But we must see that this very blessing becomes the pivot point of the narrative. The very thing that demonstrated God's faithfulness to Israel became the catalyst for Egypt's hostility. The world does not mind a weak and manageable church. But a fruitful, strong, and vibrant church? That is a threat. And so the blessing of God often precedes the opposition of men.
The Hardening of the Heart (v. 25)
Now we come to the difficult verse, the verse that separates the men from the boys theologically.
"He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His slaves." (Psalm 105:25 LSB)
Let the words sink in. The text does not say that the Egyptians, on their own initiative, decided to hate Israel and God simply permitted it. It does not say that God foresaw their hatred and decided to use it. The text says, with stark simplicity, "He turned their heart to hate His people." God is the subject of the verb. The turning of the Egyptian heart is His work.
This is what we call divine providence, and it is a hard doctrine for soft people. But it is biblical from cover to cover. God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21). God sent a lying spirit into the mouths of Ahab's prophets (1 Kings 22:23). God is the one who gives people over to their sin (Romans 1:24). The cross itself was the ultimate example: Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel did what God's "hand and His purpose predestined to occur" (Acts 4:28). God ordains whatsoever comes to pass, and this includes the sinful acts of men.
But how does this work? Does this make God the author of sin? Not at all. We must maintain two biblical truths simultaneously, without trying to reconcile them into a neat philosophical system that our finite minds can fully grasp. First, God is utterly sovereign and ordains all things. Second, man is fully responsible for his sinful actions. The Egyptians hated Israel out of their own sinful hearts. Their envy, their fear, their racism, it was all theirs. They were not puppets. They made real choices, for which they were justly judged. God did not infuse sin into them. Rather, He withdrew His restraining grace and gave them over to the wickedness that was already there. He turned their hearts by letting their hearts go where they wanted to go.
Think of it this way. The sun shines on a block of ice and on a lump of clay. The same sun melts the ice and hardens the clay. The sun is the active agent in both cases, but the different outcomes are due to the nature of the material it is shining upon. God's providence, His sovereign decree, shines on all men. On the regenerate, it produces repentance and faith. On the reprobate, it hardens them in their rebellion. The Egyptians' hearts were already full of the clay of pride and idolatry. God's blessing on Israel was the heat that hardened that clay into bricks of hatred.
And why did God do this? The text says they were to "deal craftily" with His slaves. This hatred was not pointless. It was the necessary setup for the Exodus. God was setting the stage for a demonstration of His power that would echo through all of subsequent history. He needed a hopelessly enslaved people and an impossibly hard-hearted tyrant so that when He acted, no one could mistake who was responsible for the deliverance. He was preparing to get glory for His name by rescuing His people from the very trap He had sovereignly set.
Conclusion: The Comfort of a Terrible Providence
So what are we to do with this? We are to take immense comfort in it. This is not a doctrine to be afraid of; it is a doctrine to rest in. If God is sovereign even over the hatred of our enemies, then we have nothing to fear from them. Our persecutors, our opponents, the hostile culture around us, they are all on a leash. They can do nothing to us but what our heavenly Father has ordained for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory.
The world may hate the church. The culture may deal craftily with us. But we know who turned their hearts. And the one who turned their hearts to hate us for a season is the same one who will turn our captivity into triumph in the end. He is setting the stage. He is preparing a deliverance. The very fruitfulness He grants us will stir up opposition. And that opposition will be the backdrop against which He will display His mighty arm.
This means that we are free from bitterness. We are free from anxiety. We do not have to spend our days wringing our hands about the state of the world. The God who caused Israel to be fruitful is the same God who turned the hearts of the Egyptians. The God who saves you by His grace is the God who governs the malice of your foes. He is working all things, even the sinful hatred of men, together for the good of those who love Him.
Therefore, our task is not to understand every detail of His secret counsel. Our task is to be faithful. Our task is to be fruitful, to be strong in the Lord, and to trust that the same God who is making us grow is the God who is in complete control of the reaction. He is the God of the blessing, and He is the God of the backlash. And He is our God. Let us therefore give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His steadfast love endures forever.