R.C. Sproul

Now the word providence simply comes from the prefix pro- and video- and so literally and technically the word providence comes from this idea that providence refers to God's seeing something beforehand.

that the providence of God refers to God's seeing something before.

beforehand, before His presence or beforehand with respect to time.

Now this is not the same thing as the concept of foreknowledge or prescience where in theology we talk about the fact that God can look down the corridors of time and know the end of the activity before it even starts.

But the doctrine of providence, though it speaks about God's seeing things before, certainly includes far more within it than simple foresight with respect to the deity.

But the reason why we have the doctrine of the providence is that the first thing it tells us about God's government of the universe is that the God of Judeo-Christianity, He's a God who sees everything that takes place in the universe.

There is nothing that takes place that does not take place before Him.

It is in full view of His eyes.

Now I know that that can be one of the most terrifying thoughts that a human being could ever have to consider.

that there is someone who is, as Jean-Paul Sartre lamented, an ultimate cosmic voyeur who looks through the celestial keyhole and observes every single action of every human being.

As I said, if there's anything about the character of God other than His holiness that drives people away from Him,

It is this all-seeing providence.

Now that brings to mind the whole concept of God as a spectator.

And one of the things that I've noticed about spectators is that spectators can become very enthusiastic about what they are watching.

but they have little or no influence over the results of what they are watching.

If any of you have ever been to movies, you can see that sometimes the audience gets so worked up in the middle of a dramatic scene that they'll begin to talk to the characters on the stage as if they're talking to these images on the silver screen.

Could have any possible influence on the outcome of the drama.

I remember the first version of Rocky

and during the prize fight that was the culmination of the drama, that the people in the audience got all excited and they're screaming up there saying, win Rocky, win Rocky, or people at football games are screaming and yelling, and even to the television set.

But the basic bottom line that I notice about that is that to be merely a spectator is to be virtually powerless.