John J. Murray, The Mystery of Providence (Brighton: Ettrick Press, 2021), 142 pages.
Great whales cruise the pathways of the deep with mouths agape. They do so to vacuum the food they need to survive. This instinct, instilled in them by the Creator, demonstrates how every creature – even the great whales – are dependent on his mercy for food convenient to their nature. The nature of man, being naturally prone to evil continually, leads us to suck in food, clothes, riches, the praise of men, for happiness and satisfaction. Some of it is necessary to sustain life. None of it satisfies. The gaping souls of the great mass of men still seeks after they know not what. So great is our appetite that we would suck in the entire world. Were it possible we would consume heaven itself in the pursuit of happiness and satisfaction.
In “The Mystery of Providence,” Rev. John J. Murray makes clear that we will never gain satisfaction, or lasting peace, until we begin to understand our place in the grand purpose of God in this universe, viz., “the manifestation of his own glory. We cannot get away from that. In fact, that is where we must begin.” Rev. Murray, or John J., as he was affectionately known by his fellow labourers in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), understood that God alone has complete and supreme control over the infinite details of the universe in which we live, and that it is our duty to glorify and enjoy this God.
The world thinks that luck, chance, omens and the like, govern the good times and the bad times. Throughout the short volume, which one could read in part of a morning, John J. reflects a different mindset, one he heard and loved during his years in London, starting in 1960, when he worked for The Banner of Truth, worshipped in the Free Church of Scotland, and on Fridays sat under the ministry of Dr. Lloyd-Jones, who said, “The Bible is the record of the activity of God. God is the actor. God is the centre. Everything is of God and comes from God, and turns to God. It is God who speaks. It is God who acts. It is God who intervenes. It is God who originates, who plans everything everywhere.”1Iain H. Murray, Lloyd Jones – Messenger of Grace (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2008)
“The Mystery of Providence” is a collection of edited transcripts of four sermons Rev. Murray preached in Singapore in 2000. In this book Murray reflects on our relationship to God. Not only must we believe that God reigns supreme, but we must learn to see the excellence and beauty of God’s providence, to observe it and delight in it. This is easy enough to do when things go the way we would like. But what about frowning providences, trials, pain, suffering and anguish? Murray, who was trained well in the school of grief, writes that all such changes direct us to the Word of God for answers: “What do the changes bring? They bring the fear of God. It brings contentment with God.”2John J. Murray, 130. The world is without hope. But God’s own, dear children may know that he will use whatever means to prepare us for glory, and that whatever we may suffer, in and from this life, he will supply all our needs. “God who delivered the church at the Reformation, and at other times when the church seemed so low, is the God who will yet deliver us.”
This book is a tonic for every Christian. It is rich, warm, pastoral. The reader who is helped by this book will also find delight and wisdom in the similarly titled puritan classic by John Flavel3John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1963)., and also Murray’s ‘Behind a Frowning Providence’.4John J. Murray, Behind a Frowning Providence (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1990).
Footnotes
- 1Iain H. Murray, Lloyd Jones – Messenger of Grace (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2008) ↩︎
- 2John J. Murray, 130. ↩︎
- 3John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1963). ↩︎
- 4John J. Murray, Behind a Frowning Providence (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1990). ↩︎
