Shorter Catechism Q & A # 11

Q. What are God’s works of providence?

A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Memorize Q & A—Exposition

“God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct,  dispose, and govern all creatures, actions and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence,  according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy” (Westminster Confession of Faith 5.1.)

What does it mean?

Examples of His providential care:

1. List the activities of the Lord as recorded in Ps. 147.
2. How is the Lord seen as the Ruler? (Ps 66:5–7; 103:19–22)
3. What do the following verses show us 0f how he governs our lives? (Acts. 17:25–26; Philippians 2:12–14; Hebrews 1:1–3)

What is our practice?

Continue your discussion of the providential and governing work of our Lord in relationship to our life in the home, the community, etc.

Quotes for thought and discussion:

Thomas Watson helps our thinking on the providence of God as it reaches to “all places, persons, and occurrences”:

“(1) To all places. ‘Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off’ Jer. 23:23). The diocese where Providence visits is very large; it reaches to heaven, earth, and sea. (Ps. 107:23–24; & Jonah) … (2) God’s providence reaches to all persons, especially the persons of the godly, who in a special manner are taken notice of. (1 Peter 5:7;  Ps.33:18, 19, 34:7, 56:8; Heb.11:34) … (3) God’s providence reaches to all affairs and occurrences in the world. There is nothing that stirs in the world but God has, by his providence, the overruling of it. (Ps. 75:7; 1 Sam. 11:13, Ps. 147:9; Matt. 10:30)…”

“After learning that there is a Creator, it must forthwith infer that he is also a Governor and Preserver, and that, not by producing a kind of general motion in the machine of the globe as well as in each of its parts, but by a special providence sustaining, cherishing, superintending, all the things which he has made, to the very minutest, even to a sparrow. Thus David, after briefly premising that the world was created by God, immediately descends to the continual course of Providence, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens framed, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth;” immediately adding, “The Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth the children of men,” (Psalm 33:6, 13, etc.)” (John Calvin, Institutes)

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