As we walk through this life and broken world and as we face hard things and pain, we may ask, “Does God really care?” We live in a fallen and broken world, but we do have a loving and caring Heavenly Father. The Bible tells us that trial and troubles will come, they will be part of this life. However, it’s one thing to know that we will face hard things and completely different when we are actually walking through the hard things. In the middle of our pain it can be very easy to lose focus on the truth. It’s hard to remember the other times we have been a front row witness to God’s faithfulness, and it’s easy to forget the growth and healing He brought us through. We can look at this world, these trials and pain and become cynical and walk away. Or we can pause and remember, learn, grow, trust.
As we heard in the sermon:
God is good
God is loving
God is powerful
God is all knowing
God is outside of time and space
And….yes, bad things happen.
Even in thinking about this life and all of time and eternity, this hard thing is but a moment. Yes, a real moment, but we have walked through other hard moments. We should also know that we are not alone as we face hard things. None of this is meant to minimize what we are facing, just to remind us that this moment will pass. When we look at Scripture we read about men like David, Job, and John the Baptist. Each of these men faced hard things and yet they clung to God. They asked their questions, they cried and prayed. And God heard. It did not mean things went the way they would have wanted, but God was there even in the middle of it.
The two truths to remember:
1) God always brings purpose from the pain. 1 Peter 1:6-7 “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
2) God is always present in the midst of the pain. Psalm 46:1”God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” And also, Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit..”
Let’s look at Paul. He had a thorn that he asked God to remove three times and God did answer him. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said,”My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” Peter wanted the thorn gone, we want our prayers answered in the way and time we want. God made it clear that He IS what Peter needed. He IS what we need. We may not understand, but as we look back at the hard times and pain we’ve faced, we’ve seen God’s hand.
The question we started with was “Does God really care?” Or maybe it’s “Why do bad things happen to good people?” How is “good” defined? Who gets to define it? What if we ask the question differently, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” We are all sinners and the best thing that can happen to a sinner is salvation. And really, aren’t we saying when we go through pain and hard things, “God, that’s not fair.” God never said He was fair, but He is just, Psalm 103:10-12 “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 transgression from us.” God sees what we cannot and knows what we do not. He loves us. He is with us. We can trust Him. With Him the pain is not wasted, it has purpose and He is present with us all along the way.
Monday:
Consider a time when you have asked, “Does God really care?” Has that caused you to be cynical and push away from God or has that brought you nearer to God? Have you let tragedy (hard things) rewrite your theology(what you know to be true about God)? Has pain caused you to take your eyes off of Jesus and put them on yourself? Take some time to tell God. Just like you pour out your heart to a trusted friend, pour out you heart, your questions, your feelings to THE trusted ONE. He can handle it.
Tuesday:
God is good.
God is loving.
God is powerful.
God is all knowing.
God is outside of time and space.
And, bad things happen.
In light of forever, these afflictions, these hard things, this pain, are all but a moment. We can look to the character of God through His Word and be reassured.
David
Job
John the Baptist
Paul
We are not alone.
Take some time to read through some of the Psalms, Job, and scriptures about John the Baptist.
Wednesday:
When God seems heartless or you are wondering if He cares, remember God always brings purpose from the pain. Just like a seed planted in the dark soil of the earth and seemingly forgotten, it sprouts and grows and becomes. God does not waste your pain, He sees the tears that fall in the dark of night. He knows the doubts and questions.
Read 1 Peter 1:6-7. God can use the pain you have gone through to help another person. Have you seen purpose come out of your pain? Have you been able to help others out because of it? Has God used someone else's pain to help you?
Thursday:
Another important point to remember is that God is always present in the midst of pain. We think we know what we need and when and how we need it. God wants us to remember HE is what we need and He is with us. Read 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. Have you found yourself pleading with God to do something, to change something, to heal? Sometimes it is in retrospect we see how God was right there with us in the pain. May we take that with us as we walk through current or future hard things.
Friday:
Do we find ourselves asking “Does God really care?” or are we really asking “Is God fair?” God never said anything about being fair. But He is a just God. Read Psalm 103:10-12. This passage shows that He is just. Fair is us paying for our debt of sin. Justice is God laying that on His own Son in our place. That helps our perspective. Remember He brings purpose from the pain and he is with us in the midst of the pain.
Saturday:
Take some time to reflect on how you have seen God bring purpose out of your pain, and also how He was present in the middle of it. Write it down. Thank Him for that. Remember. Here is a link to a song to ponder this very thing: “He’s Always Been Faithful” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLfQ05Otk0
He see. He knows. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He cares.