LD 10: Patience. Thankfulness. Confidence.
March 5, 2011 Leave a comment
This Lord’s Day set of questions finds its beauty in its lucidity. HC #27 states that all things come to us by his Fatherly hand, which is already comforting in and of itself. Yet, I love how HC #28 elaborates on the Father’s caring hand with these three words…
Patience. Thankfulness. Confidence.
These are the blessings from God’s creation and providence. In this post I simply want to supply biblical passages which reflect these three words.
Patience.
Scripture never promises freedom from adversity and suffering in this life, but in the Father’s care, we can be patient in the Lord. In our sufferings we can be patient because the end result for those in Christ is hope… the biblical notion of hope that is rooted in the work of Christ, a hope that is as sure as the breath you are now breathing:
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)
Thankfulness.
Because the Father’s care is always good, thankfulness is a fitting disposition and response in every season. I pray for this response, to know His comfort in all circumstances, always:
18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
Confidence.
Our confidence comes in the wonderful promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God. These are some of the most encouraging words in all the Bible:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
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Lord’s Day 10
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.
Q & A 28
Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. 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.
