Category Archives: The Providence of God

“Heaven will direct it.”

Posted by Dan C. on

Heaven will direct it

For those of you unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the above title is actually a quotation in Act 1, Scene 4 that was spoken by the least recognized of the three characters in that Scene. The three characters are of course Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, his best friend Horatio, and a soldier named Marcellus, another of Hamlet’s friends.

In the scene, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus are standing on the ramparts of Elsinore in the bitter cold, waiting for the ghost of Hamlet’s father to appear. Sounds of Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius and his courtiers feasting and drinking merrily echo from inside the castle, and Hamlet tells his friends that Claudius’s constant revelry is soiling Denmark’s reputation, blotting out all that is good in the country.[i]

The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and beckons Hamlet to speak with him about exacting revenge for Hamlet’s Claudius having murdered him (Hamlet’s father).

An interesting conversation ensues between the three friends concerning whether or not Hamlet should follow and speak with the ghost. Hamlet is determined to follow and bids Horatio and Marcellus not try and stop him.

It was also during that conversation that Marcellus utters the famous line:

“Something is rotten in the State of Denmark,” to which Horatio responds with a far less famous line:

“Heaven will direct it.”[ii]

As one summary tells us, concerning the situation in Denmark,

Something is rotten because ghosts don’t just tend to appear in normal times when everything is spiritually well with the kingdom.

But more than that: for the ghost (or supposed ghost) of the late king to appear: something’s not right, and Marcellus, as a soldier and a sentinel keeping watch on the castle battlements, is trained and primed to know when something’s wrong.[iii]

It was Horatio’s “Heaven will direct it.” forthright conclusion concerning the ongoing State of Denmark that caught my attention when I only recently read it!

Perhaps Horatio’s response grabbed my attention because I’ve thought many times in recent days and months that “Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark.” perfectly describes what we see all around us in our own nation and indeed in our fallen world. Between natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, and the rampant lies from the halls of political power is it any wonder that some of us might question if our nation will even survive and return to a time of national stability and prosperity?

I have to also admit that Horatio stating matter-of-factly that “Heaven will DIRECT it.” sort of jumped off of the page and hit me between the eyes. One library of notable quotations remarked that Horatio was expressing his Christian faith.[iv] It’s well known that Shakespeare’s England was a primarily a Protestant Christian nation. The words “Heaven will direct it.”, while acknowledging God’s providence and sovereignty over the affairs of men, seem, in this old soldier’s small brain, to carry a weightier meaning than just saying something like “God will sort it all out in the end.”

By saying “Heaven will direct it,” we are wading into connected streams, the sovereignty of God and God’s providence. John Piper provides helpful and easily digestible definitions for both:

“God’s sovereignty is his right and power to do all that he decides to do.”[v]

God rules over and owns everything in His entire creation, precisely because He made everything. What God decides to do can be called His sovereign purposes. God’s providence can then be defined as the ‘how’ of what God decides to do; how He carries out His divine purposes:

“Absolutely everything that needs to be done to bring about his purposes, God sees to it that it happens.”[vi]

Perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of both the sovereignty of God and His divine providence is found in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost:

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (ESV)

We know that God, our sovereign creator, after Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden, determined to save His people from their sins and restore His perfect creation after the rebellion and sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Peter, speaking to the assembled crowd, tells his Jewish audience that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (providence), then was crucified by the hands of lawless men (providence), but then was raised up by God (sovereignty & providence).

Back to Shakespeare, Hamlet and his companions. Something certainly was rotten in the state of Denmark, just as something is rotten in our world and in our beloved nation. Will the nation survive? Will there be an end times great revival, or is a once great country under God’s judgment? A sovereign God can decide to save the world, ‘resurrect’ a nation lost in sin, or He can decide to consign it to the dust bin of history, just as He did with the Roman Empire.

Theologians, speculators, and prognosticators abound. We, as Christians and believers in the resurrected Savior know what we would like to see in our future, but none of us can be certain, even from scripture, what lies ahead.

What we do know at least two things.

Firstly, we can agree with Horatio’s response to Marcellus’ “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. God is sovereign over all the affairs of men, “Heaven will direct it.” Might that mean that God might be bringing judgment upon a nation when things get “rotten”? I’ll let you answer that ne for yourselves.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, our commission from God and our mission as believers, to preach the gospel to a lost world, and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19-20), is still our business until He comes (Luke 19:13). As we have said many times through the years, “The main thing is still the MAIN THING!!!

[i] Hamlet Act 1, Scene 4 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts &

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Heaven will direct it. – William Shakespeare, Horatio in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4 (allgreatquotes.com)

[v] Are God’s Providence and God’s Sovereignty the Same? | Desiring God

[vi] Ibid.

William Wirt and the Blind Preacher – Archibald Alexander

Posted by Dan C. on

The power of religion, in promoting happiness in this life and in disarming death of its terror, has seldom been more beautifully illustrated than in the example of William Wirt, Attorney General of the United States. When a young man, just commencing his professional career, he was distinguished for his genius, his eloquence, his fascinating powers of conversation, and his polished manners. In every circle his society was courted. Fond of pleasure, and the center of attraction of every convivial(1) party, he was living for the joys of this short life, and was in great danger of being ingulfed in that vortex of worldliness and fashion where so many thousands have perished.

While thus living, as he was on one of his professional circuits as a lawyer, he passed a Sabbath where the celebrated blind preacher of Virginia, Rev. James Waddell, was to preach. Mr. Wirt having no other way to pass the Sabbath, entered the humble church with the congregation. He has himself described, in his own forcible language, the scene which ensued. The primitive simplicity of the preacher, the subdued pathos (2) of his tones, his unaffected (3) piety and fervid eloquence, all combined, through the influences of the Holy Spirit, to touch the heart of Wirt. He felt the emptiness of his own joys, and the unprofitableness of his own life. He reflected and wept and prayed. “God be merciful to me a sinner”, which became, for many days and nights, the anxious supplication of his soul. Forsaking his thoughtless companions and his dangerous habits of gayety, he commenced a new life of Christian usefulness. True peace visited his heart, and his benignant (4)countenance proclaimed that he had sought happiness and found it, where alone happiness can be found. He became the advocate of Christian missions, and to every object of philanthropy he consecrated the energies of his noble mind.

Though necessarily called to move in the highest circles of opulence and intellect, and to encounter the temptations with which those circles are ever filled, he humbly, yet fearlessly sustained his character as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and gave his commanding influence, unreservedly and constantly, for the promotion of piety. Revered by the community, and loved almost to devotion by a wide circle of friends, he spent his days in doing good. And when the dying hour came, hope and joy beamed from his eye, brilliant with almost celestial vision, as the glories of his heavenly home were unfolded to his view. His body has long ago mingled with the dust, and his spirit has long dwelt, we trust, with the God who gave it.

Such are the effects of religion. Infidelity can show no such triumphs. Who will not utter the prayer, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his?”

(1) friendly, lively, and enjoyable

(2) evoking pity or sadness

(3) without artificiality or insincerity

(4)kindly and benevolent

__________________

The story you just read is the true account of how God brought William Wirt to the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, published in a collection of articles by Presbyterian theologian and Princeton Seminary professor Archibald Alexander (April 1772 – October 1851). The blind preacher, Rev. James Waddel was the first Presbyterian Minister in the Northern neck of Virginia. He was known as the “blind preacher Waddell” because he had periods of blindness.

Footnotes notwithstanding, it’s a wonderful account of one man’s salvation. We are told of Mr. Wirt’s character and life situation leading up to a Sunday when he “happened” to walk into a church and listen to a renowned and talented preacher. While he was attracted to the preaching (he was a lawyer), the Holy Spirit opened his heart to hear and receive the gospel message (the Lydia principle in Acts 16?). He was shaken to the core with the realization of his own sinfulness and prayed the simplest of prayers, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. He found a true peace and happiness he had never before known. As a result, his entire life was changed forever!

Dear reader, what’s your story? How did god save you? What happened on your way to the cross?

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