In an attempt to differentiate the Reformed understanding of the decree of God from fatalism, John Piper wrote the following in his 2020 book, Providence:
What Is the
Difference between Providence and Fate?
Sometimes these
strong statements of God’s directing, disposing, and governing of all creatures,
actions, and things raise the question of how the biblical view of God’s
providence differs from fate. The idea of fate has a long history—from Greek
mythology to modern physics. What troubles people in general is that fate and
providence imply a kind of fixedness to the future that seems to make life
meaningless. Here is Charles Spurgeon’s (1834-1892) response to this concern.
First, he gives us
his astonishing conviction about the minute pervasiveness of divine providence.
This is from a sermon on God’s providence based on Ezekiel 1:15-19:
I believe that every
particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less
than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat
has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand
of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an
aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the
fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.
(Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Providence,” sermon on Ezek. 1:15-19)
That’s astonishing.
Every tiny. Popping bubble in the foam at the top of a newly poured can of
Coke. Every floating dust mote which you can see only in the early-morning
bedroom beam of light. Every tip of every stalk of grain stretching across the
endless Nebraska plains. All of them, with all their slightest movements,
specifically governed by God.
So Spurgeon foresees
the objection and continues on in the same sermon:
You will say this morning,
Our minister is a fatalist. Your minister is no such thing. Ah! he believes in
fate. He does not believe in fate at all. What is fate? Fate is this—Whatever
is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence
says, Whatever Gods ordains must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains
anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working for some one
great end. Fate does not say that. Fate simply says that the thin must be;
Providence says, God moves the wheels along, and there they are.
If anything would go
wrong, God puts it right; and if there is anything that would move awry, he
puts his hand and alters it. It comes to the same thing; but there is a
difference as to the object. There is all the difference between fate and Providence
that there is between a man with good eyes and a blind man. Fate is a blind
thing; it is the avalanche crushing the village down below and destroying
thousands. Providence is not an avalanche; it is a rolling river, rippling at
the first like a rill down the sides of the mountain followed by minor streams,
till it rolls in the broad ocean of everlasting love, working for the good of
the human race. The doctrine of Providence is not: what is, must be; but
that what is works together for the good of our race, and especially for the
good of the chosen people of God. The wheels are full of eyes; not blind
wheels. (John Piper, Providence [Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2020], 35-36)
I am sure Rick Sanchez would respond thusly:
Further Reading
An
Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed
Theology
