The Apostles' Creed (part four)

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 36:5).

A father and mother were working in their back yard while the family dog kept their four-year-old daughter entertained. Eventually the little girl got bored and started peppering her dad with questions. "What’s Mommy doing?" "She’s pulling weeds." "What’s Daddy doing?" "I’m planting a rose bush." "What’s Grandpa doing?" "He’s in the house taking a nap." Then, catching her father by surprise, the girl asked, "What’s God doing?" Her father hesitated before replying. Speaking to his pastor a few days later, he said: "I could think of many things God has done in the past, but it took me a while to think what God was doing at just that moment."

"What is God doing today?" That’s a good question to ask. The First Article of the Apostles’ Creed says, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." When we recite these words, we have a tendency to only think about the distant past. But Jesus said, My Father is always at his work to this very day (John 5:7). Consider what Martin Luther has to say about God’s creative work in the Small Catechism: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses and still preserves them." He echoes Psalm 36, which says: O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. When you purchase a car, it is up to you to make sure it is kept properly maintained; but God is different—not only did He make heaven and earth, He continues to take care of everything He has created. That includes you and me.

When we think about God’s daily care, what all does that include? We turn again to Luther: "He has given me…clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and children, fields, cattle and all my goods." Of course, this is not a complete list. Take a moment and try to count what God has given you personally as of today: the clothing you looked through this morning as you decided what to wear; the house or apartment where those clothes are kept; the bed you slept on last night; the electricity and water you used to get ready for the day; the vehicle that you depend on to get around. Let’s not forget the meal you ate when you got up, the refrigerator that you rummaged through, or the medicine that you took to stay healthy. Because of your government, you can worship without fear of being attacked by religious extremists. And what about the love of parents, siblings, spouse and children? What is God doing today? He is giving you everything you need—not only to live, but to live well.

Men and women enter marriage hoping that they have found someone they can always rely on. Children need parents who will always be there for them; parents need a government that they can depend on. Businesses need workers that they can count on, and employees need the security that comes from working for a dependable employer. But there is no one in this world who is completely dependable. Men and women repeatedly fail because we are all sinful. But God never fails us because He is God, and He is perfect.

When the Great Flood had subsided, God gave the following promise to Noah and his family: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease (Genesis 8:22). God has kept this promise; although floods and droughts and pestilence may damage some crops, the Lord blesses farmers in other places so that they are able to make up the difference. God even gives to the unthankful and the unworthy. When the people of Israel were traveling from Egypt to Canaan, God promised them daily bread from heaven. Even though the people repeatedly angered Him by worshipping false gods, grumbling against His leadership and failing to trust in His protective care, not once in 40 years did God fail to give them their food according to His promise.

Jesus urges us to trust in His Father’s care. He said, do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the unbelievers frantically pursue all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:31-33). You can live life with confidence; God will provide, for He is faithful to His promises.

Children sometimes accuse their parents of being unfair. And it’s true—parents are frequently unfair. Because we are sinful, no one can be perfectly fair all the time; what children don’t realize is that when they grow up and start families of their own, they will struggle with making the same mistakes.

But what about our Father in heaven—is He ever unfair? A farmer might grumble, "I just got a quater inch of rain while my neighbor got a full inch." Another person might complain, "Why do I have to be on my feet all day working up a sweat while others sit at a desk in an air-conditioned office? It just ain’t right!" But such an attitude is presumptuous—it assumes that if God blesses someone else, then I deserve that blessing too. But do any of us deserve God’s blessings? Hardly—in fact, if we got what we deserve from God, we would all be suffering in hell right this moment. However, Psalm 103 says, he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. We can be thankful that God does not treat us as we deserve.

So when you are tempted to point a finger at God and complain, "You’re not being fair," remember that you are a miserable sinner who only deserves God’s wrath. The fact that He chooses to bless you at all should not provoke discontent but humble thankfulness. To be sure, we don’t understand why God permits earthquakes, floods, fires and hurricanes; although we know that He can bring about a good result from any situation, it is hard for us because we cannot see the big picture as God does. And when we pray and pray and pray and God doesn’t give us what we want, it is natural to wonder what is going on; the Bible is filled with people who expressed frustration when God did not answer their prayers the way that they wanted. This is why God gave these words to Isaiah: my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). What’s important to remember are the words of the apostle Peter: humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Why can we have such confidence? How can we trust that God will bless us with what we need? Our confidence is based on history. Two thousand years ago in a little country on the other side of the world, God gave the greatest blessing you and I will ever receive. Our heavenly Father sent His son to be born among us, walk with us, eat with us, suffer with us. But Jesus did more than just experience our lives—He transformed our lives! He was born not just to walk with us but to lead us, not just to eat with us but to feed us, not just to suffer with us but to suffer for us, die for us, rise from the dead for us. Jesus not only brings us to God, He has removed the impediment of sin by suffering all the hell that you, I and everyone else deserves. Jesus paid a price of pain and humiliation that we cannot begin to understand, and it was all done out of love for you. How can we trust that God will see to our needs? We can believe it because God has already seen to our greatest need by sending His Son to win us freedom from sin and eternal death.

What is God doing today? He is showing us His unmerited mercy, as Luther says: "He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life, and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me."

Since God takes good care of us, two things ought to follow. Luther mentions one: "For which it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him." Most people claim that they have earned what they have, and can do with it as they please. You know better; you know that everything you have is a gift from God. And yet there are times when we forget that we haven’t paid anyone for clothing and shoes, meat and drink, and all the rest. Maybe right now you are thinking, "Wait a minute! I paid for the milk I drank at breakfast, I paid for the clothes I'm wearing." Well, actually you didn’t. When you pay at the gas station, you are paying for the drilling, refining and delivery of the gas. No one has ever paid the Lord for the petroleum in the ground; that’s free. When you pay the grocery store for a jug of milk, you are only paying for feeding and milking the cow, for pasteurizing and delivering the product. But the milk itself is a free gift from God. The same is true of the chair you’re sitting on, the vehicle you drive, the home in which you live. The materials from which all these are made are free gifts from your Lord.

This is why we give thanks in prayer when we sit down to eat. This is why we go to church and sing praises of gratitude to God. This is why we offer some of our income to church work and charity. This is why we try to use everything we have responsibly; we don’t want to misuse what God has given by hoarding it away where it serves no one, nor do we want to simply waste it or use it in a way that serves the devil’s purposes. God is good to us, and we show our gratitude by being good managers of His gifts.

Since God takes good care of us, we should also look at life with a positive attitude. Today's Psalm says, both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. When spring comes, mother hens bring their chicks out into the barnyard. Chickenhawks can frequently be a danger; they circle in the sky, just waiting for a chick to stray from its mother so they can swoop down and snatch it. But whenever the hen sees a chickenhawk, she calls her little ones and spreads her wings over them for protection. Psalm 36 uses this imagery to reassure us of God’s providential care. No matter what the danger or problem—whether it be loss of job, loss of health, or loss of a loved one—the Lord is always there, waiting to shelter us under the shadow of His wings where He provides care and protection. Since God is your provider, He will certainly protect you as well. You have no reason to be afraid.

What is God doing today? If anyone asks you, you can smile and confidently say: "the Lord is taking care of His creation, and that means He’s taking care of me."