Try It Tuesday: Pronoia

Recently I came across a word I had never heard before and in fact is not in the Miriam Webster Dictionary. The word is pronoia. It is actually a Greek word meaning foresight, providence, or divine will. In the area of psychology,

According to the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) pronoia is defined as  “the opposite state of mind to paranoia: having a sense that there is a conspiracy that exists to help the person.” 

In other words, it is a mindset that believes the world is set up to secretly benefit people. That serendipity is at work to move us along our path of destiny. 

Is the notion of a world helping us rather than harming us Biblical? I would say absolutely. The apostle Paul tells us this in His book to the Romans when he writes: 

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Note who causes all things to work together. It is God. We do not. He is the force at work to help us move forward in our identity and purpose. 

Consider Joseph’s response to his brothers in Genesis 50: 21

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

Again, it is God who turns evil to good in our lives. 

Think about this: you are a king on a chess board. The object of the game is to place the other person’s king in check mate where there is no move that the oponent’s king can make that would not cause him to be overtaken. There are a total of 31 other pieces on the same chess board. Now consider that the Lord is the chess master. He sees the end from the beginning and He moves all 32 pieces in order to put any of your opponents in “checkmate.”. You may not see what the Lord is doing. But He is at work in order for you to overcome any obstacles and place sin, death, and the power of the devil in “checkmate”.

Trust that the Lord is working on your behalf to bring you triumphantly into a position where you can like Joseph say, “What the enemy intended evil against me, God used it for my good in order to bring about this present result.” 

God never wastes anything we go through. He will use situations and circumstances for your good and for the good of others. Equipped with the knowledge that God is at work in your life to bring good, adopt the mindset of pronoia. 

Imagine what would happen if we all changed out mindset to look and appreciate the good God is doing in our lives. 

Pronoia—try it!