What Do You Understand by the Providence of God?

Heidelberg Catechism

27. Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?

A. God's providence is
his almighty and ever present power, ¹
whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds
heaven and earth and all creatures, ²
and so governs them that
leaf and blade,
rain and drought,
fruitful and barren years,
food and drink,
health and sickness,
riches and poverty, ³
indeed, all things,
come to us not by chance ⁴
but by his fatherly hand. ⁵

• 1. Jer 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24-28.
• 2. Heb 1:3.
• 3. Jer 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; Jn 9:3; Prov 22:2.
• 4. Prov 16:33.
• 5. Mt 10:29.

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