Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.
Interpretation
Trust in a higher power to guide your life for the best, even when it seems beyond your understanding.
This quote by John Flavel emphasizes the importance of recognizing and accepting that there is a greater wisdom at work in the universe than our own limited understanding. It suggests that we often believe we know what is best for ourselves, but true wisdom and guidance come from providence, which has thoughtfully arranged circumstances for our ultimate benefit, even when we may not see it at the time.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges, one might use this quote to remind the audience to trust in greater plans.
All the tears of a penitent sinner, should he shed as many as there have fallen drops of rain, since the creation, to this day, cannot wash away one sin. The everLasting burnings in hell, cannot purify the flaming conscience, from the least sin.
All the dark, intricate, puzzling providences at which we were sometimes so offended...we shall [one day] see to be to us, as the difficult passage through the wilderness was to Israel, "the right way to the city of habitation".
Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry made of a thousand shreds, which, single, appear useless, but put together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.
The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little.
Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately upon them.
It is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straights, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages of their lives.
Long live impudence. It was my guardian angel in this world.
My company survives because I've learned to respect the ideas of people younger than me and recognize when my wisdom is obsolete.
There are men too superior to be seen except by a few, as there are notes too high for the scale of most ears.
The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.
One's doing well if age improves even slightly one's capacity to hold on to that vital truism: "This too shall pass.
If you understand something in only one way, then you don't really understand it at all. The secret of what anything means to us depends on how we've connected it to all other things we know. Well-connected representations let you turn ideas around in your mind, to envision things from many perspectives until you find one that works for you. And that's what we mean by thinking!
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