Heidelberg Catechism
27. Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. God's providence is
his almighty and ever present power, 1
whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds
heaven and earth and all creatures, 2
and so governs them that
leaf and blade,
rain and drought,
fruitful and barren years,
food and drink,
health and sickness,
riches and poverty, 3
indeed, all things,
come to us not by chance 4
but by his fatherly hand. 5
- 1. Jer 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24-28.
- 2. Heb 1:3.
- 3. Jer 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; Jn 9:3; Prov 22:2.
- 4. Prov 16:33.
- 5. Mt 10:29.
28. Q. What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by his providence?
A. We can be patient in adversity, 1
thankful in prosperity, 2
and with a view to the future
we can have a firm confidence
in our faithful God and Father
that no creature shall separate us
from his love; 3
for all creatures are so completely in his hand
that without his will
they cannot so much as move. 4
- 1. Job 1:21, 22; Ps 39:10; Jas 1:3.
- 2. Deut 8:10; 1 Thess 5:18.
- 3. Ps 55:22; Rom 5:3-5; 8:38, 39.
- 4. Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov 21:1; Acts 17:24-28.
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