Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at
the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and
yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than
they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do
you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not
labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the
field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not
much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Jesus)
The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as
the breath of all mankind. (Job)
God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant
within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Therefore it
was not you who sent me here, but God. (Joseph)
As your days, so shall your strength be. (Moses)
The Lord is King forever and ever. (David)
O Lord Almighty, God of Israel—you are the God, even you
alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. (Hezekiah)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told
you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like
grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them
out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the
rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are
they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them
and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. (Isaiah)
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the
eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot
endure his wrath. . . . O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in
himself. (Jeremiah.)
In him we live and move and have our being. (Paul)
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to
this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You
are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you
ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
(James)
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of
temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished. (Peter)
Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a huge
crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder:
"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!"
He who rules the raging of the sea, knows also how to
check the designs of the ungodly. I submit myself with reverence to his Holy
will. (Racine)
God's power as well as his wisdom gives him a right to
govern the world—nothing can equal him, therefore nothing can share the
command with him. . . . He holds all things in the world together, and
preserves them in those functions wherein he settled them, and conducts them
to those ends, for which he designed them. (Charnock)
A sense of the divine care and favor has been in all ages
the support of the church and the consolation of godly men. No thought can
enter into the mind of man, better adapted to promote its piety and peace
than this—that the world is under the government of God, and all the events
of our lives under the direction of his providence. (Orton)
The belief in providence is the necessary supplement to
the belief in inspiration. (Westcott)
From all the acts of God as recorded in the Scriptures,
we are taught that he alone is God; that he is present everywhere to sustain
and govern all things; that his wisdom is infinite, his counsel settled, and
his power irresistible; that he is holy, just, and good; the Lord and the
Judge—but the Father and the Friend of man. (Watson's Institutes)
I adore and kiss the providence of my Lord, who knows
well what is most expedient for me, and for you, and your children.
(Rutherford)
A God without dominion, without providence and final
causes—is nothing but fate and 'nature'. (Sir Isaac Newton)
To infer from that passage of holy Scripture, wherein God
is said to have rested from his works, that there is no longer a continual
production of them, would be to make a very ill use of that text. (Leibnitz)
There is an immediate and constant superintendence
exercised over the whole creation, and what we term laws of nature
are but the operations of divine power in a regular and uniform manner. (Dr.
Godwin)
The philosopher, who overlooks the traces of an
all-governing Deity in nature, contenting himself with the appearances of
the material universe only, and the mechanical laws of motion, neglects what
is most excellent; and prefers what is imperfect to what is supremely
perfect, finitude to infinity; what is narrow and weak to what is unlimited
and almighty; and what is perishing to what endures forever. (Maclaurin)
We cannot conceive of any reasons that can influence the
Deity to exercise any providence over the world, which are not likewise
reasons for extending it to all that happens in the world. (Price)
Though troubles assail,
And dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail,
And foes all unite;
Yet one thing secures us,
Whatever betide,
The Scripture assures us—
The Lord will provide! (Newton)
Yes, You are ever present, Power Supreme!
Not circumscribed by Time, nor fixed to Space,
Confined to altars, nor to temples bound,
In Wealth, in Want, in Freedom or in Chains,
In Dungeons or on Thrones, the faithful find you! (Hannah More)
We believe that all things, both in heaven and in earth,
and in all creatures—are sustained and governed by the providence of this
wise, eternal, and omnipotent God. (Confession of Helvetia)
We believe that this most gracious and mighty God, after
he had made all things left them not to be ruled by chance or fortune—but he
himself does so continually rule and govern them, according to the prescript
rule of his holy will, that nothing can happen in this world without his
decree or ordinance. (Confession of Belgia)
We believe, that God made all things by his everlasting
Word, that is, by his only begotten Son; and that he upholds and works all
things by his Spirit, that is by his own power—and therefore that God as he
has created, so he foresees and governs all things. (Confession of Basle)
When men bring themselves to think that Jehovah is too
great a being to interfere in the affairs of this lower world, they are
prepared, by this infidel sentiment, to adopt any evil course which may
suggest itself to the depraved inclinations of the human heart. (Morison)
God reigns is a logical conclusion from God is.
To deny God's providence is as atheistic as to deny his existence. A
God, who neither sees, nor hears, nor knows, nor cares, nor helps, nor
saves—is a vanity, and can never claim homage from intelligent men. Such a
God should be derided, not worshiped. He might suit the mythology of
Paganism, or meet the demands of an infidel heart—but could never command
the allegiance, or win the confidence of an enlightened and pious man!
Yet there have been and still are, those who deny
Providence. "They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding
their snares; they say—Who will see them?" Psalm 64:5 Some say outright,
"The wicked say to themselves--'God isn't watching! He will never notice!'
Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God!" Psalm 10:11-12. Nothing more
derogatory to the character of God can possibly be said, than that he does
not rule the world. To bring into existence and then forsake a race of
beings, and care no more for them would argue a total lack of the moral
attributes of divinity. Such conduct may well comport with the character
of false gods—but is wholly abhorrent to the nature of Jehovah. The world
may as well be without a God, as have one who is incompetent to rule it, or,
who, wrapping himself in a mantle of careless indifference, abandons
creation to the governance of puny mortals, to the rule of devils, or to the
sway of a blind chance!
"The ostrich lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting
them be warmed in the dust. She doesn't worry that a foot might crush them
or that wild animals might destroy them. She is harsh toward her young, as
if they were not her own. She is unconcerned though they die." Job 39:14-16.
Thus this bird fulfils the instincts of her nature. Yet in so doing she
proves that she is one of the lowest orders of irrational animals. But
God's tender mercies are over all his works. His kingdom rules over all.
"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!"
Revelation 19:6
"Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases!"
Psalm 115:3
"For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is greater
than all gods. The Lord does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth, in
the seas and all the depths!" Psalm 135:5-6