Nothing escapes God’s concern in His creation.
Read / Listen
Read Matthew 10:26-33
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 27
Q What do you understand
by the providence of God?
A. 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.
Summary
Yesterday, Acts 17 and the first part of Q&A 27 appealed to providence to prove God’s almighty and present power upholding His creation. In the second part of Q&A 27 and our passage today from Matthew 10, Jesus appeals to providence to assure the Father’s loving rule over His creation.
Jesus had just warned his disciples that persecution would come and they would be hated because of their association with him. Yet in this passage, he tells them not to fear men or what harm they can do to them physically because there is one greater who all humanity must answer to, and who has power over both body and soul.
The beginning of the Heidelberg Catechism starts with the same message: your only comfort in life and in death is that you belong body and soul, in life and in death, to your faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Even if persecution, illness, or calamity affects the body, no one can touch the Christian’s soul.
But what’s even more, God is in control of it all, to the extent that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground, nor a hair falls from your head apart from His will. Two seemingly insignificant events are not outside of the Father’s care. So if God’s rule covers these common birds and minute daily occurrences, how much more does He value the overall concern of His children?
Dig Deeper
The end of this passage reminds us that those who openly profess their faith in Christ receive His eternal protection. This is why Q&A 1 speaks of providence this way: “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.” Q&A 27 poetically refers to the highs and lows in life but then says, “all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from His fatherly hand.”
As a Christian, you need not fear! It's not as if God is only in control of the good days; He also is working through the bad days.
The Bible helps remind us that providence is not only found by looking at creation and the events around you, but providence also comes with the promise of a loving, just, and good God.
If you trust in your heavenly Father, the promises you read in Matthew 10 and Q&A 27 reveal that His providence relieves can you of extreme fears, and that you can commit your everlasting care to your Heavenly Father.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: A Heavenly Father who rules over the universe and cares for his creatures
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Commit your cares and fears of this week to your faithful Savior who has secured you body and soul, and share with others His providence and grace He has shown you.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Hebrews 3
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