The Father Almighty (Ephesians 1:11; Lord’s Day 10)
God works all things according to the counsel of his will—all things temporal, all things spiritual, and all things personal. Providence means that leaf and blade, rain and drought, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand. As Dr. Daniel Hyde says, this knowledge is power: it makes us patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and confident for the future, since no creature can separate us from his love.
God has spoken in his Word. Let us confess its teaching in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10, questions and answers 27–28:
Q. 27. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. 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.
Q. 28. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providencehelp us?
A. 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.
I mentioned last Sunday that questions and answers 26–28 are three of the most memorable and personal in our Catechism. When we say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” we’re not only confessing the power of God’s creative work, but also his personal involvement in the world and in my life. As a church, we’re not so much focused on the length of the days of creation, the age of the universe or earth, or to what extent we allow for intra-species microevolution, but how God as Creator is knowable as my Father. Amen?
And here in questions and answers 27–28 the confession of “God the Father Almighty” is applied to daily life in this world. This is what we call his providence or his provide-ance for all things.
Knowing the Providence of God
Let’s focus first on knowing the providence of God. What do we hear from the world about the purpose of the world? Some say things like, “que sera, sera,” whatever will be will be. There is a popular fatalism among so many. Politicians are all the same and political parties have rigged the system against the average person, so who cares about anything! Some say, “stuff happens.” Life is what it is and you can’t control it so get over it. Others say there is no overarching story of what happens in the world. After all, it came to be for no known reason and it’s evolved into what we see now.
God’s message to us in his Word is different. It says that an infinite and transcendent God has decided to create and then to enter that creation in a personal way to uphold it and to save it. And so Paul can say to us believers that in [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, and then he steps back and says the reason is that we hav[e] been predestined. But then notice he says our personal predestination and inheritance is rooted in the eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful plan of God: according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. This is why we say in our Catechism that God’s providence is his almighty and ever present power, which is personifiedas if God’s own hand were uphold[ing]…heaven and earth and all creatures.
When Paul says all things are worked out according to the counsel of his will he means God’s providence is over all things temporal. For example, Acts 17:26 tells us that God has “determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” The space in the timeline of human history for the U.S. has been ordered by God. The place on the face of the earth for the U.S. has been ordered by God. In fact, Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the political face for the U.S.—whether President Obama or President Trump—is ordered by God as “the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”
When Paul says all things are worked out according to the counsel of his will he means God’s providence is over all things spiritual, if I can use that term to mean all the things concerning our salvation in Christ. Just one verse demonstrates this: Acts 2:23. Here Peter powerfully says while Jesus was “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men,” behind the scenes this was planned for all eternity. He was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” This means from all eternity past—if we can even speak that way!—God thought of me!
What’s so touching for us is that God’s providence doesn’t just uphold the world, but my world. So when Paul says all things are worked out according to the counsel of his will he means God’s providence is over all things personal. He rules all things: leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty. And because of that I can say all things…come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
My good works done in response to God’s grace have been planned by God according to Ephesians 2:10.
My temptations and testings come from the Lord in his good providence according to 1 Corinthians 10.
Jesus tells me in Matthew 6 that all the intimate daily details of my life matter to God!
“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on…Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they...And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field…if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?” (Matt. 6:25–34)
Benefiting from the Providence of God
Knowing my God and Father who is the Almighty Creator of all things leads to my benefitting from the providence of God. There’s an old quote that we learned growing up in school: “knowledge is power.” If you learn, you can then live. What you put into your head is going to affect your heart and hands. Here in Q&A 28 our Catechism lists three ways my knowledge of God’s overarching providence benefits me.
Patient in adversity
First, knowledge of God’s providence is power because it allows me to be patient in adversity. James says “count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds.” I was just discussing this after the service this morning with a brother who knows the trial of financial difficulties leading to the trial of housing difficulties leading to the trial of family difficulties; yet in it all, learning patience, trust, and hope in the Lord of all goodness. Why “count it all joy?” “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (Jas. 1:2–3)
Thankfulness in prosperity
Second, knowledge of God’s providence is power because it allows me to express thankfulness in prosperity. When I view every breath as a gift, every drop as a gift, every crumb as a gift, let alone the overflowing abundance of the Lord, I can stand in the house of God or in the workplace and say, “The Lord gives…blessed by the name of the Lord” (Job 1:22).
Confidence for the future
Third, knowledge of God’s providence is power because it gives me confidence for the future. The Catechism incorporates Romans 8:28 and how God works all things for the good of his children: 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. Our confidence is for the future in this life, but also for the future state of eternity. This is what James spoke of when he said,
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him (Jas. 1:12).
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. He is my God. He is my Father. He is my provider and I will be patient when he closes his hand, I will be thankful when he opens it, and I will be confident for not only his hands but his arms to embrace me in eternity. Amen.