I set my alarm to get out of bed this morning. You probably don’t judge that as an act of rank mistrust of God’s providence. I made plans. I didn’t assume that God would rouse me supernaturally at 5:30 a.m. That was not an act of unbelief but a wise embrace of secondary means. On the other hand, I was dependent on God for quality sleep, for sustaining my life while I slept, and for the mechanical accuracy of my alarm clock and the electrical grid that powers it. I am called to live in a world where God is sovereign and my actions do matter.

God is truly sovereign. And I am truly responsible for living according to God’s revealed will. He upholds all things by His righteous right hand (Isa. 40:10; Heb. 1:3). And what I do with my hands matters (Matt. 5:30). It’s one thing to affirm both God’s sovereignty and human responsibility as biblical teachings, but how do we faithfully live out these truths in a balanced way in everyday life?

The fact is, we live constantly in the experiential tension between God’s sovereignty and our responsibility, between the call to trust and the call to act. Here’s a mundane example: I set my alarm to get out of bed this morning. You probably don’t judge that as an act of rank mistrust of God’s providence. I made plans. I didn’t assume that God would rouse me supernaturally at 5:30 a.m. That was not an act of unbelief but a wise embrace of secondary means. On the other hand, I was dependent on God for quality sleep, for sustaining my life while I slept, and for the mechanical accuracy of my alarm clock and the electrical grid that powers it. I am called to live in a world where God is sovereign and my actions do matter.

Power, Presumption, or Prudence?

But it’s easy to become imbalanced and to drift into either the “power mode” or the “presumption mode.” In the power mode, we take charge of our lives as though human responsibility were the only piece of the equation. Overplanning is common in this scenario. Here there is a functional absence of a sovereign God—we, of course, acknowledge God’s sovereignty, but practically speaking, it doesn’t affect our daily lives. On the other hand, there is a magnified emphasis on secondary causes. As a result of these imbalances, we may be tempted toward anxiety, fear, over-control, over-responsibility, perfectionism, and anger. Why? Because we think it’s all up to us.

In the presumption mode, we let go of our lives as though God’s sovereignty were the only piece of the equation. Little or no planning is common. Here there is a magnified emphasis on God’s sovereignty but a functional absence of secondary causes. As a result of these imbalances, we may be tempted toward laziness, passivity, stoicism, fatalism, and indecision. Why? Because we think it’s all up to God.

Scripture steers clear of either extreme. We are called to live neither by power nor by presumption. God’s Word provides an alternative: prudence. Prudence involves wise and prayerful planning. It is characterized by a robust view of God’s sovereignty and providence—He is responsible. Further, it retains a proper emphasis on secondary causes—I am responsible, too. We see this dual emphasis throughout the entire Bible. Time and time again, Scripture calls us to trust God’s providential care and to plan well and work hard in various spheres of life. I want to drill down into one specific area: providing materially for ourselves and our families while entrusting our labors to the Lord’s care.

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