Text: Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me… (Exodus 33:21)
Catechism Question 27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
Answer: Providence is 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.
Question 28: How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
Answer: We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from His love. For all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.
Intro: Creation & Providence
I. Preservation
“Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures…”
Hebrews 1:3 -
Colossians 1:17 -
Nehemiah 9:6 -
II. Government
“...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.”
Esther
Ephesians 1:9 - the mystery
Colossians 1:19 - peace
III. Concurrence
“For all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.”
Proverbs 21:1
Ezra 7:27
Exodus 3:21
Human freedom?
Application 1: Evil
author or cause?
Application 2: Prayer
Moses & God in Exodus 33
Application 3: A place by me
Romans 8:28
“Our Father…”