"Hard Providences"

Heidelberg Catechism

Day 1

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

Day 10

“Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he 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 from his fatherly hand. 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 will separate us from his love. All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.”

1. God’s Word guides His wise providence in the midst of human failings, 1 Kings 12:1-15; Genesis 45:1-11; Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28; 17:24-31; Ephesians 1:11.

2. God’s Word is our guide in the midst of our trouble, obedience is wise submission to His providence, 1 Kings 12:16-24.

3. There is a point to everything, and God assigns the point, Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 6:13-20.