I read about an Haitian Christian who threw her Bible into the fire after the earthquake. She couldn’t believe God could allow such a terrible thing to happen to her people. How could this God she’d been serving so faithfully allow so many of her friends, family and fellow citizens die?
Her story reminded me of the account in Mark 4:35-41. Jesus had commanded his disciple to get into the boat so they sail to the other side of the Lake. Whilst Jesus slept peacefully with is head on a cushion in the boat, there was a fiery storm. The boat began to fill with water and was just about to sink. Jesus’ disciples ran to him, woke him up and shouted: “Teacher, don’t you care that we are going to drown?” DON’T YOU CARE?
Have you ever had occasion to question whether God really cares about you? I have. Many people have. May be it is a question you are asking right now. God, don’t you care?
The question of whether God cares is one of Life’s most difficult but the Bible doesn’t leave it unanswered. In the particular reference to the Disciples, Jesus told them: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have NO faith?”. In other words, “Haven’t you seen enough of His love and power to believe He will never leave you nor forsake you and He is with you always, even to the end of time”?
My friend, it’s very easy to be close to Jesus, obey him, talk to Him and still not really know Him. After Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples asked “What kind of person is this that the winds and sea obey him?” They walked with Jesus everyday but didn’t know Him. Ironically however, in the next few versus after their enquiry, a mad, demon possessed man runs to Jesus and says “Jesus, Son of the Most High God”. Could it be that the demons had a better knowledge of Jesus than his disciples did?
The Christian has been empowered and mandated by scripture to live a victorious Life. However the whole mandate is buried in the person and authority of Jesus. This means the less of Jesus we know, the less victorious our lives will be; and the more of Jesus we know, the more victorious our lives will be.
Many godly people in the Bible suffered many terrible things, what always kept them however, was how well they knew God. Let’s look at some examples:
Daniel was a castrated Jew who got literally thrown into a lion’s den but survived. Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego got thrown into fire. The soldiers who threw them in got burnt but they survived. Paul was beaten and left for dead. Saul tried to pierce David to the wall with a spear several times but he escaped and lived on to become the next king. Mordecai had Haman build a gallows just to hang him but the curse got reversed. I can go on and on.
All of these people above could have asked: “Jesus, don’t you care?” but they knew Him to the level that made it impossible to doubt God’s intentions and ability to deliver. Do you really know the God you serve?
God cares and I pray you experience His Love and Care for you by Faith today.
I have had many non-christian and/or non-religious people ask me, “if there really was a God, why did He let “such and such” happen?” “Such and such” is usually a grossly tramatic event which has happened to unsuspecting, powerless and “innocent” children, women and men. A man-made or natural disaster. I have also had this discussion with other Christians, religious people and I have even asked this question myself!
My answer is that I honestly don’t know the answer… I can’t speak for God. I have learnt through experience that there is nothing I can say, no reason or argument I can provide to adequately answer that question. Plus, those who are going through the “such and such” event, don’t really want to hear from me some irrational rantings about the purpose of God. So I usually will tell them to go to God themselves and ask Him for the answer.
I know what the answer has been for me: faith. I have faith that “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord” (Romans 8:28). I also have faith that God will make all things known in time (1 Corinthians 13:12).
I went to a funeral last week for a fellow police officer who was murdered. His father is a minister. He was a deacon in his church. His killer was a 70 year old man who attended his church. He left a wife with 3 young boys. During his eulogy she spoke and said that she didn’t understand why God allowed this tragedy to happen to their family. She expressed her confusion and frustration. But she also stated that her faith would see her through this tradegy and she had faith that she would one day meet her husband again “on that beautiful shore.”
That was beautiful, both the post & Asa’s comment.
My reasoning on why these things happen is because when God created the world, good and evil exist to act as a test for human beings to use their free will to triumph over the bad.
–a–