For my money the Heidelberg Catechism gives a really helpful and rather beautiful summary not just of the doctrine of God's providence but of its practical benefits .
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 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; John 9:3; Prov.
22:2. [4] Prov. 16:33. [5] Matt. 10:29.
Q. What does it benefit us
to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His
providence?
A. We can be patient in
adversity,[1] thankful in prosperity,[2] and with a view to the future we can
have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall
separate us from His love;[3] for all creatures are so completely in His hand
that without His will they cannot so much as move.[4]
[1] Job. 1:21,
22; Ps. 39:10; James 1:3. [2] Deut. 8:10; I Thess. 5:18. [3] Ps. 55:22; Rom.
5:3-5; 8:38, 39. [4] Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov. 21:1; Acts 17:24-28.
