Eph.1:11,12 – In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Seeing the hand of God working in everything all around us is impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit. In our natural state we are separated from God without the ability to see His work. He is working in creation, He is working in the rising and falling of the nations, He is at work in His church and He is at work in you. The beauty of all of this is that He has a purpose in mind for everything He does. His purpose is to bring glory to His name and to protect and empower his sons and daughters. Everything in existence is involved in advancing God’s kingdom willingly and unwillingly. He used Pharaoh and Caesar Augustus to advance His kingdom. Today He uses political leaders who try to hinder the advance of God’s kingdom and also uses those who give there lives totally to His plan. Here is how Albert Barnes describes this.
“The agency of God is seen everywhere. Every leaf, flower, rose-bud, spire of grass; every sunbeam, and every flash of lightning; every cataract and every torrent, all declare his agency; and there is not an object that we see that does not bespeak the control of an all-present God. It would be impossible to affirm more explicitly, that God’s agency is universal, than Paul does in the passage before us. He does not attempt to prove it. It is one of those points on which he does not deem it necessary to pause and reason, but which may be regarded as a conceded point in the discussion of other topics, and which may be employed without hesitation in their illustration.”
The Romans collaborated with the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus and stop His kingdom, God raised His Son from the dead using their attack on Jesus to accomplish His plan. Pharaoh turned on Moses and the children of Israel, God overthrew the Egyptian army and left them at the bottom of the sea. This has been the story of the ages, God is causing all things to work together for the good of His people and to advance His kingdom.