‘Providence’ (writes J.I. Packer) ‘is normally defined in Christian theology as the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill (Ps. 145:9 cf. Mt. 5:45-48), he upholds his creatures in ordered existence (Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3), guides and governs all events, circumstances and free acts of angels and men (cf. Ps. 107; Job. 1:12; 2:6; Gn. 45:5-8), and directs everything to its appointed goal, for his own glory (cf. Eph. 1:9-12). This view of God’s relation to the world must be distinguished from:

(a) pantheism, which absorbs the world into God;

(b) deism, which cuts it off from him;

(c) dualism, which divides control of it between God and another power;

(d) indeterminism, which holds that it is under no control at all;

(e) determinism, which posits a control of a kind that destroys man’s moral responsibility;

(f) the doctrine of chance, which denies the controlling power to be rational; and

(g) the doctrine of fate, which denies it to be benevolent.

(New Bible Dictionary)