Lord's Day 10

27  Q.  What do you understand
        by the providence of God?

    A.  Providence is
          the almighty and ever present power of God^1
          by which he upholds, as with his hand,
            heaven
            and earth
            and all creatures,^2
          and so rules them that
            leaf and blade,
            rain and drought,
            fruitful and lean years,
            food and drink,
            health and sickness,
            prosperity and poverty--^3
            all things, in fact, come to us
              not by chance^4
              but from 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; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2
    ^4  Prov. 16:33
    ^5  Matt. 10:29


28  Q.  How does the knowledge
        of God's creation and providence
        help us?

    A.  We can be patient when things go against us,^1
          thankful when things go well,^2
          and for the future we can have
          good confidence in our faithful God and Father
          that nothing will separate us from his love.^3
          All creatures are so completely in his hand
            that without his will
            they can neither move nor be moved.^4

    ^1  Job 1:21-22; James 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