Catechism Class – LD10B Q28 – Jehovah Jireh

Jehovah Jireh – The Lord, Our Provider!

How God Cares for His Created World and Everything In It! 

Catechism Reference: Lord’s Day 10,Q28

We are still talking about the PROVIDENCE OF GOD. God’s gracious provision for us – his, ‘laying in store’ all of the aspects of our life, and the world on which we live is an act of his providence, his tender ongoing care for, and governance over, his created universe and everything in it, right down to the smallest atom.  

But how does this affect ME – personally?  That’s what we want to ask in this podcast, and we’ll find the answer in Q28 of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Q28. What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by his providence?

A. We can be patient in adversity, 1 thankful in prosperity, 2 and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from his love; 3 for all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move.

Podcast to follow on Tuesday 20th July 2021 DV

Before we go any further, to consider the material provisions of God for all mankind an for his won people in particular, we need to consider God’s greatest provision of all – the provision of a Saviour, to take away our sin, and make us acceptable to enter the presence of the thrice-holy God.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus, who alone could fulfil the law, coming to be baptised in Jordan, he exclaimed, John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”  Peter wrote, 1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

God truly is our PROVIDER.  And in the atoning death and literal bodily resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus, he has made for us the greatest provision of all, he has provided us with forgiveness of sin, reconciliation and peace with God, and eternal life.  

Let’s go back to our catechism question, Q28.  What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds, all things?   Knowing that nothing happens by chance, the catechist wants us to apply that in a personal sense, to our own lives, so he selects three areas in which we need to know and appreciate God’s continuing sovereignty:

• When we are in distress.  That we may be patient in adversity,  What is more important in times of sickness, or unemployment, or difficulty, than to know that the kindly providence of God is watching over us, and determining our path.  Job 1:21.  
• When we are prospering. thankful in prosperity Sometimes when we are doing well or are, healthy, or prosperous, we tend to think that we have become so by our own efforts.  When we are prospering it is good to remember that every good gift we have is given to us by God.  Deuteronomy 8:10  
• When we consider the future and what it might hold for us. and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, The future is a frightening place.  For the ungodly and unforgiven sinner, it is especially perilous, for life on this earth is a very short time, and may end in a sudden and unexpected manner, and the sinner will find him or herself standing before the God who executes perfect justice, and administers that justice fairly, in regard to our sin and rebellion.  For the Christian too, the future can be unsure, in the sense that we do not know, any more than the ungodly, when this life will end, but we have comfort in knowing that our times are in God’s hands, and the date of our departure is fixed, and when we do depart this life, we enter into our eternal rest.  

One final point. The catechist’s understanding of the extent of God’s sovereignty and continuing involvement with us and over his creation is well illustrated by his final comment in Q/A28.  ‘since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.’

Our catechist instructor reminds us that  NOTHING MOVES, WITHOUT THE HAND OF GOD MOVING IT. If something, anything at all moves, whether it is large or small, God has willed that it should move, or it would not do so.   On the earth, in the sky, – the motives and acts of other people, Proverbs 21:1The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. And that should simply overwhelm us with praise every time we think about it. There is motion all around us, the very movement of the earth itself, Turing upon its axis, – it is God who moves it!  Paul preaching to the learned philosophers of Athens, said, Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

© Bob McEvoy July 2021