Does Jesus Care

When good things happen to us, we are all too ready to

praise Him for His loving care.

A. Certainly this is right.

1. Nobody has to force us to recognize the

hand of the Lord, in this blessing.

B. Most of us are not really that quick to recognize

that God loves and cares for us when something

that we perceive as bad, happens to us.

1. Because the perceived bad things also happen

to us.....should we consider that, in these

cases and at these times.....JESUS DOES

NOT CARE FOR US????

We all have prayed for safety on the roads and have

thanked the Lord for His loving care for us....as we reflect

on that safety.

A. Perhaps it was a “near miss”.....or we might have

come upon an accident just minutes after it has

happened.

1. But as we think about it.....is this to say that

when a Christian dies in an automobile

accident......that God didn’t especially care

much about them.....or that He was punishing

them for something?

Christians should spend some time rethinking this issue.

A. As we go through the Bible, we often see that

God greatly cares for the people that He loves.

1. We can also readily see that.....even though

He cares, bad things can happen.

One thing that needs to enter into our thinking is this.....

God loved us so much that He made everything good...

beneficial....useful.

A. It is man and the consequences of mankind’s

sin which has introduced bad things into our life.

1. It is satan working to induce man to sin that

has left us with evil things and bad things

in our lives.

2. It was Adam and Eve that introduced such

things as: Pain and suffering.....death....

hard physical labor for our entire lives.

God cared enough to send His Son to take care of the

spiritual consequences of this sin.....but God has not and

will not take away the physical consequences.

A. Understand that...even though it may seem to us

that God does not care....He does care and He

is walking with us.

Heb. 13:5-6 - 5Stay away from the love of money; be

satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will

never fail you.I will never forsake you.”6That is why

we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so

I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?”

1. When we perceive that God doesn’t care...it is

our perception that is wrong.

To better illustrate the point, we will take a close look at

some Bible people and passages.

I. No dissertation on the idea of God working with

someone and allowing bad things to happen....even

though He deeply loved and cared for that individual....

would be complete without including the account of

Job.

Job. 1:1-5,12,22 - 1There was a man named Job who

lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a man of

complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from

evil. 2He had seven sons and three daughters. 3He owned

seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred

teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys, and he

employed many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person

in that entire area.

4Every year when Job’s sons had birthdays, they invited

their brothers and sisters to join them for a celebration. On

these occasions they would get together to eat and drink.

5When these celebrations ended—and sometimes they

lasted several days—Job would purify his children. He

would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt

offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps

my children have sinned and have cursed God in their

hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice. 12“All right, you

may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you

want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him

physically.” So Satan left the LORD’S presence. 22In all of

this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

A. Nobody reading the book of Job could come away

with the mistaken impression that God did not

love or care for Job.

1. God cared so much for Job, that....towards the

back of the book, He punished the so-called

“friends” of Job.

2. Also....in the end....Job was richly rewarded

for what he had gone through.

B. Through the hindsight given to us from God’s

Word, we know WHY this test came to Job.

1. To the best of my understanding....JOB

NEVER DID KNOW WHY!!!!!

C. We want to know: Who, What, When, Why, How.

1. Our understanding...our faith....our trust in

God....and our trust in the fact that He does

care......removes the need to know these

things.

a. We do not need to know everything

before we can trust God.

D. Even though God loved and cared for Job, very