Lord’s Day 10
Q27. What do you mean by God's providence?
Providence is God's almighty and always-present power by which he holds up heaven and earth and all creatures, like holding them in his hand. He rules everything so that sunshine and rain, good times and hard times, food and drink, health and sickness, being rich and being poor — all things come to us not by accident but from his fatherly hand.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Jeremiah 23:23–24
Acts 17:24–28
Hebrews 1:3
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Jeremiah 5:24
Acts 14:15–17
John 9:3
Proverbs 22:2
Matthew 10:29
Ephesians 1:11
“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.”
Parent Guide
Discuss this question together
Discussion Questions
- 1
What does "providence" mean according to the catechism?
- 2
Does anything happen by accident in God's world?
- 3
What is something in your life right now, good or hard, that comes from God's fatherly hand?
Illustration
Your teacher plans the whole school day: reading time, math, recess, lunch. Nothing happens randomly. God runs the whole world with even more care. Rain and sunshine, good days and hard days, a full lunch box or a skipped meal. None of it is random. All of it comes from God's hand.
Application
The next time it rains when you wanted to play outside, or something does not go the way you hoped, remind yourself that God is in charge. Ask him to help you trust that even unwanted things come from a Father who loves you.