Lord's Day 10 — Monday: God's Sustaining Power
Lord's Day 10: Divine Providence
Monday — God's Sustaining Power
The Catechism
Q27. What do you understand by the providence of God?
The almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
Q28. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us?
We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God's hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.
Today's Emphasis
God does not merely create and then leave His creation to run on its own. He actively upholds all things moment by moment, sustaining every atom, every breath, every heartbeat by the word of His power.
Scripture Readings
Colossians 1:17
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:3
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
Acts 17:28
In him we live and move and have our being.
From the Reformers
John Calvin (Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.16.1)
"To make God a momentary Creator, who once for all finished his work, would be cold and barren, and we must differ from profane men especially in that we see the presence of divine power shining as much in the continuing state of the universe as in its inception."
Reflection Questions
• How does knowing that Christ actively holds all things together change the way you view your daily circumstances?
• In what areas of your life have you been living as though things 'just happen' rather than being sustained by God's hand?
Growing in grace through the Catechism — The Hearthside Team 🔥