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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 27

Question 27

What dost thou mean by the Providence of God?

The almighty, and every where present power of God (Acts 17;28); whereby, as it were, by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures (Heb. 1;3); so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea all things (Acts 14;17), come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand (Matt. 10;29, 30).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Acts 17:28

28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Psalms 139:7-10

7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,

10even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

Isaiah 40:26

26Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Acts 17:27

27God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

Hebrews 1:3

3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Isaiah 40:12

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

Acts 17:26

26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

Acts 14:17

17Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

Psalms 104:13-15

13He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

14He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:

15wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

Jeremiah 5:24

24They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

Psalms 145:15-16

15The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.

16You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Genesis 8:22

22As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”

Psalms 74:16

16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.

Psalms 74:17

17You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

Matthew 10:29

29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

Matthew 10:30

30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Acts 17:25

25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

Job 5:18

18For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

Job 5:19

19He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

Exodus 15:26

26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

1 Samuel 2:7

7The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

Isaiah 45:7

7I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.

Proverbs 22:2

2The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.

Source and edition

Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879

Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.

Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

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