Since He is still the sufficient cause for its continuing existence, God could not have left the universe alone. It is only by His present power that the chaos at the sub-atomic level produces order.
If there was nothing outside the natural laws (supernatural), then all things would progress directly from point A to point B in a straight line. If one understood all the laws and had all the current facts, it would be possible to predict all events to the end of time. There would be no free choice, only the completely predictable natural outcome of the chemical/electrical interactions in your brain. If there was nothing outside the natural laws, the greatest pursuit would be the pursuit of science—the understanding of natural law. But this is not the case.
The Bible is clear that there are entities that are able to operate outside the natural laws. These entities have free choice. God is not influenced by natural laws. The angels are not controlled by natural laws. And the spiritual part of man is outside natural laws. Our experience confirms that man has some degree of free choice. The spiritual entities are able to act upon the physical world to alter the straight line progression of natural law. When a spiritual being makes a choice to act in the physical world, it effects the straight line progression from point A to point B so that the universe is now aimed at point C. The magnitude of the change in the physical universe is a function of the nature of the choice and by the power of the spiritual entity to influence the physical world.
It is in the context of events following a natural progression that we must understand miracles and providence. Miracles occur when God (or any spiritual being) acts outside the laws of nature to effect a desired outcome. Providence is God working within natural laws and the free will of men to bring about desired ends. These are not always easy to differentiate.
A man goes into the hospital with a clearly identified cancerous growth. The following day it has disappeared. A miracle or a natural occurrence? It is possible that God intervened outside of natural laws and removed the cancer. God may have worked through a number of natural methods, either psychological or physical, that triggered the immune system to attack the growth. God may have not have intervened at all but there was something about the genetic make-up of the cancer that caused it to die on its own.
There is a car accident that takes the life of an individual. Did God cause the death of that person? In that He created all things and physical law, He is ultimately responsible. However, with rare exception, the accident followed all the physical laws of speed and mass and the free choices of men. That God did not intervene is His sovereign right that He exercises with wisdom and understanding. It is possible that He intervened to cause this accident but highly unlikely.
How often man asks the question, “Why did God do this.” The answer is most often that God did not do it. He had the right and the ability to intervene but the norm is that He does not. If God intervened every time that bad things were going to happen, this would be a very chaotic world. Would men be grateful if every time a person tried to eat fatty foods (ice cream) God intervened to make sure they were unable to do so? To ask God to destroy evil is a personal death wish. Furthermore, without man’s free choice, it would be impossible to glorify God because part of God’s character is free choice.
The picture in scripture is more often that of God protecting until some point when he decides to let man have his own way.
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