Teaching Resources International

The Providence of God … (May 2026 Update) 

Wouldn’t it be great to know what was going to happen before it happened? We could take another route before a major accident was going to happen. We could evacuate before a hurricane or tornado struck our home. Or we could avoid bad and costly decisions by knowing what was going to happen in the future. We could know what was ahead, and we could prepare for whatever was going to happen. 

That’s what makes the providence of God one of the most comforting doctrines for believers! He sees ahead and makes provision for His children. The word “providence” is a compound word in Latin – “pro” meaning before, and “video” meaning to see ahead of before. Providence means that God sees ahead or sees before anything happens. This should be a great comfort to believers. We do not see the future, but God does! He not only knows and sees everything that will happen before it happens, but He also makes provision for His children in every circumstance. What a comfort “providence” is to the child of God.  

We see this often in the Scriptures. We see it in Genesis 22:14 when God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son. Abraham looks and a ram is caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham takes the ram and sacrifices it instead of Isaac and calls the place, “Jehovah-Jireh,” meaning the place where it was seen. Abraham understood that God knew ahead, saw ahead and provided for the sacrifice even before he and Isaac set in the morning. God saw, God knew and God provided.  

There are many other examples of God’s provisions (seeing ahead and providing) in the Bible, and this is often worked out in prayer. God knows what we need even before we ask (Matthew 6:8), God sees ahead and makes His perfect provision even while we are praying! Isaiah 65:24 captures this: “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (NASB).   

I have seen this in our lives a number of times – we have prayed for something, and God sent the answer even before we prayed. I first understood this many years ago while reading L’Abri by Edith Schaeffer. She gives many examples of times when they were praying for something and then they received a letter the next day from someone in the United States with the answer to what they had started praying for. The letter was sent weeks before the Schaeffers started praying (“It will also come to pass that before they call”). The answer to their prayers came while they were still praying (“and while they are still speaking, I will hear”). This is God’s providence – He sees ahead, He knows, He makes provision.  

God’s providence should be a great comfort to believers. He sees, He knows, and He prepares, even before anything happens.  

But how can we apply our understanding of God’s providence to our lives? Here are 4 important considerations when thinking about the providence of God:  

1. Don’t worry – Trust! In Matthew 6, Jesus told the disciples not to worry but to trust God. In His governing over all creation, God even cares for the sparrows and the grass and the flowers. Jesus reminds them: “Are you not of more value than they?” Don’t worry – God is in control. He has a plan and a purpose for everything.  

2. Be Thankful – God’s in control. In Phil. 4:4, Paul tells the church at Philippi not to worry but, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” We can rejoice even in difficulties knowing that God is in control.  

3. Act Rightly – Concurrence. We are never told to simply sit back and do nothing because God is in control. On the contrary, we are told to live and act in such a way that all we do honors God. In 1 Peter 3:8-17, Peter reminds a greatly persecuted church about the importance of suffering according to the will of God. This is a longer section, but listen carefully to what he says about acting rightly even in times of suffering:  

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 

Remember – concurrence means that God has given us a free will.  God’s providence does not mean that we can sit back and do nothing. Instead, a right understanding of providence reminds us that our free will choices work in concert with His sovereign plans. We need to use our free choices to act rightly, knowing we will ultimately give an account to the Lord for our actions.  

4. Be Faithful – even to Death.  In Revelation 2:10, the Lord tells some that they will suffer and be thrown into prison, and some will die a martyrs’ death. But He encourages them to “Be faithful until death….” When we know God is in control, even in the most difficult of circumstances we can be faithful, even unto death. We know that God has put us in each situation for His glory and for our good. So, we can trust His choices and be faithful in all circumstances, even unto death. 

It would be great (sometimes) to know what is going to happen before it happens. But, unlike God, we are not all-knowing and all-powerful. But we have a God who knows the beginning from the end and knows what will happen even before it happens. And He makes provision for us too! That’s why the providence of God is one of the greatest sources of comfort that a Christian can have. 

Serving and Teaching …  

This month is a month of graduations. Both seminaries, Kyiv Theological Seminary and Ukrainian Baptist Seminary (L’viv) had graduations this week. It still amazes me to see both seminaries operating and training men and women for ministry during all the Russian attacks! Please continue to pray for the students and the faculty at these schools. 

I did not have a class to teach this past month. Next on my calendar will be the GlobalServe Orientation for new missionaries in July. I am praying that we can get more clarity about training these missionaries in theology over the next few years. 

Family …  

Most of our family time this month was spent traveling to California to visit Katya’s 98-year-old grandmother. In April, she was in the hospital, and they didn’t expect her to make it. So, we made plans to visit her before it was too late. However, she recovered and we had a great time visiting with her and with the rest of Katya’s family in CA. 

We had many unexpected providences on our trip. I’ll share just a few things. First, we chose a really long flight to save over $2000. It required us to fly east to Atlanta, then north to Minneapolis, then west to California – over 11 hours including layovers! When we got to our gate in Fayetteville, I noticed that the gate next to us was going to Minneapolis, so I asked if we could take that flight and avoid the eastward trip to Atlanta. They said yes, so we were able to avoid one of our flights! 

Then, probably because of the flight switch) the airline lost our luggage! They said we would have it on Sunday morning, but it did not arrive then either. I asked what we should do and they said to go to the store and buy some clothes and any other essentials we needed and they would reimburse us. So, we went to Target and got one outfit each. The girls loved it because we never buy anything new. They had a blast, but it took much longer than I expected (what was I thinking?). So that made us late for church at 10:30. That led to our next amazing providence. 

Katya remembered that her sister had attended a Ukrainian church when they first moved from Ukraine, and we thought it would be neat to go to a Ukrainian service. Their website showed a 12:45 service so we decided to go. As we were leaving Target, the airline called and said our bags had arrived (they still paid for all our clothes!). Since the airport was on the way to the church, we picked up the bags and then headed to church.  

We got to the church a little early and the 11:00 service had not let out yet. So, we started talking with a man outside giving away free bread. While we were talking to him, Maria, Katya’s niece, and Ira (a Ukrainian friend who had been in our house in Arkansas just last year) saw us and came over. They normally attend another church but had come to visit with a friend that Sunday! And they saw us near the back parking lot as they were leaving the 11:00 service! God’s providences in just one short day were an amazing reminder that He is really in control of all things! 

The main reason for our trip was to spend time with Katya’s 98-year-old grandmother. God blessed her with great health and stamina and blessed us with great weather and an opportunity to see her every day that we were there.  

During our time there, we also got to spend a lot of time with Katya’s sister’s family and nieces. It had been 4 years since we last saw them. Also, each day, we were able to do some fun things together. One special treat for the girls was spending the night with Maria and Ira and doing all sorts of girlie things (dancing, face masks, movie night, and a sleepover). Even Katya stayed and had a good time.  

We attended an Alice in Wonderland interactive adventure that is being used to raise funds for ministries in Ukraine. Katya’s sister, her nieces and Ira were in costume working at the event. 

We also visited a small park called Fairyland which was a fairytale themed park. Even though the themes were simple, we all enjoyed the park. 

Finally, on our last day in CA, we spent the day with Katya’s niece, Anna, and her family and children. The girls had a great time being with their cousins. Also, each morning, we were also blessed to be able to spend time talking with our friends, Pam and Randy. They had hosted us 4 years ago when we came from Ukraine, so we loved staying with them and catching up!  

The night before we left Arkansas to go to CA, the girls had a swim meet. They love swimming and they love doing all the different strokes. And they love competing too. 

We continue to work on our house and garden. This month, we received a very large gift that we think will help us to finish the house. Still, we plan to do most of the work ourselves so that we can be good stewards of what God has given us. Last month we wrapped the drywall for the windows and this month we ordered the wood windowsills. Hopefully I will get these installed by June. We are also putting in a whole house dehumidifier with an ERV. This is to help with air movement and moisture removal since our concrete house is so tightly sealed. Finally, we have been working on getting our garden ready for this season. Hopefully, we will have another good harvest like last year. We are still eating most of our vegetables from last year’s harvest!  

Health Issues … 

My health still seems to be the same, so I’m probably going to need to do the hiatal hernia surgery and hope that helps. I’m still hoping to avoid this surgery, but it looks like it is the possible only remaining culprit. I’m still praying about this, but it looks like I will probably have to do this surgery. 

Retirement??? 

Probably the biggest prayer need for me right now is figuring out retirement. This is something we have been talking with friends about for the last 6 months. While, as long as my health holds out, I do not plan to stop doing ministry, at some time, I need to think about retiring to spend more time with my children and grandchildren. Over the last 3 years, I have been turning over teaching assignments to others. I still have a few teaching responsibilities until the end of the year, but I am working on training someone to take those over too. Additionally, we are trying to help out with missionary training, especially with GlobalServe International.  

Right now, we are thinking that the earliest I could “retire” would be January 2027. That seems a little too soon to get everything turned over to others. In our conversations, we think that it would not be wise to work full-time beyond January 2030. That would make me 76 years old. So, sometime in the next 3 years, I would like to work on retiring or working just part-time. But this is probably the most difficult decision I have ever struggled with. I think I need to have a break and do some family-catching up since I’ve been overseas 15 years. But I want to continue serving too. Please pray for wisdom as we try to navigate what the Lord desires for us.  

Pray for Ukraine … 

Please remember to pray for Ukraine. I know there are many international crises right now and we need to be praying for all of them. But please remember our friends and fellow ministers of the gospel serving in Ukraine. Russia is increasing their attacks because Ukraine is now inflicting more damage on Russia. Russia is scrambling to find some way to regain the upper hand in Ukraine. Ukraine’s drone and missile warfare is now one of the best in the world. Even the US is asking for Ukrainian help in dealing with drone warfare in the Gulf. But we know the ultimate solution is not in weapons but in the Lord. Please pray for the people of Russia to encourage their leaders to stop this war. 

In spite of the war and nightly bombardment from Russia, our friends and colleagues continue to minister. Our friends are serving as chaplains and working with refugees and students. Churches continue to meet, and many are gathering for prayer meetings. Our neighbor, Andrii, is still helping refugees as well as praying with and sharing with the soldiers. Please pray for these people and ministries during the war. 

Thank you for your support. We are so grateful for all the providences of God. We see this in ministry opportunities as well as in our finances. Over the last 30+ years, we have prayed for God’s provisions without telling anyone our needs. And God has provided all that we have needed. We are so grateful that you too have been a part of God’s wonderful providences! It would be great to know the future – but it is even better to know the God who not only knows the future but controls it! 

By His Grace, 

Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia 

If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .  

Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735 (note: new address) or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds.  

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