Does God Really Care

"Your remark about how God causes all things to work together for good is interesting. With 6 billion people on earth, I do not believe there is a God who pays individual attention to any of us. I don't know why we church people are entitled to blessings and those miserable, starving people are not. Please don't tell me we will understand it by and by. It ought to be understandable here and now."

I easily identified with the man who raised this issue to me. My response to him indicates that while God really does care, sometimes the difficulty actually lies elsewhere:

The statement that God causes all things to work together for good is a partial quote from the Bible (Romans 8:28). To paraphrase the whole verse rather loosely, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and who follow after Him. Some don't love God; others don't follow Him. Perhaps that's why things don't work out so well for them.

Certainly not all things are good in themselves. Our daughter's daily suffering and untimely death were like that. I prayed countless times for her healing, but she was never healed. Did God hear my prayer, ignore it, say "no," or what? That's a difficult question.

Regardless, I admit to being a far better person for having endured those trials than I would have been had the problems just been taken away. Countless blessings have come from something that was not good in itself.

Isaac Newton once anonymously published the solution to a difficult problem. When one of his colleagues saw it, however, he said, "From the paw of the lion." Newton's handiwork simply could not be disguised. In the same way, God clearly reveals himself through nature (Romans 1:20). Nevertheless, not all accept what they see as being the work of God. Some reject it, choosing instead to worship the sun, moon, stars, idols, men, etc. Would God be inclined to intervene on their behalf? Probably not.

In walking through a store, I may hear a child begging for something. I usually ignore such pleas -- because it's not my child. Perhaps God works in somewhat the same way (Psalm 34:15, 17). Plus, there are many reasons that God doesn't answer some prayers. Perhaps we ask wrongly, desiring to fulfill our own selfish desires (James 4:3). Wrong relationships between husband and wife hinder prayer (1 Peter 3:7), and embracing wickedness in the heart causes God not to hear (Psalm 66:18).

Then there's the matter of timing. When my son was about four, he would watch me shave and began begging for his own razor. Would that request be answered? Eventually -- when he was mature enough to handle it. And so it may be with prayer.

Does God really care? Yes, I believe that He does.

Copyright 1999 James McAlister

Printer friendly version