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
much.....Job was still submitted to cruel pain
and torture, by satan.
1. Remember one of the truths of life.....one
of the consequences of sin for the human
race is.....PAIN.
II. Another man and situation which we should study is
the man that we know as Jonah.
Jonah 1:17; 2:1,10; 4:4-10 - 17Now the LORD had
arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was
inside the fish for three days and three nights. 1Then Jonah
prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. 10Then
the LORD ordered the fish to spit up Jonah on the beach,
and it did. 4The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be
angry about this?”
5Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and
made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see if anything
would happen to the city. 6And the LORD God arranged
for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad
leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This
eased some of his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful
for the plant.
7But God also prepared a worm! The next morning at
dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant, so that it
soon died and withered away. 8And as the sun grew hot,
God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun
beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to
die. “Death is certainly better than this!” he exclaimed.
9Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry
because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
10Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant,
though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only,
at best, short lived. 11But Nineveh has more than 120,000
people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the
animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
A. In every way, Jonah was in total rebellion to God’s
will.
1. Jonah was a Jew, and as such....HE HATED
THE PEOPLE IN NINEVAH!!!
a. Jonah was actually angry at God.
1.) For wanting the people of Ninevah
given a chance to be saved.
2.) For wanting Jonah to be the
instrument of that salvation.
** It would not be hard to understand if God did not care
for Jonah the rebel.
1. But you see.....God did care!
B. Overall....bad things did not happen to Jonah.
1. God still cared for Jonah....before he went
to Ninevah....and even when Jonah was
having his “pity-party”.
a. Jonah decided to commit suicide....God
saved his life.
b. Jonah rebelled against God....God spared
him when God had killed Nadab and
Abihu for a similar act of rebellion.
c. God tried to reason with Jonah....even
though Jonah was stubborn and proud.
III. We read of the men of God....throughout the Scriptures
......men willing to undergo pain and torture for the
cause of God.
Hebrews 11: 32-38 - 32Well, how much more do I need
to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the
faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel,
and all the prophets. 33By faith these people overthrew
kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had
promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched
the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the
sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They
became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.
35Women received their loved ones back again from death.
But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to
die rather than turn from God and be free. They placed
their hope in the resurrection to a better life. 36Some were
mocked, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others
were chained in dungeons. 37Some died by stoning, and
some were sawed in half; others were killed with the sword.
Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, hungry and
oppressed and mistreated. 38They were too good for this
world. They wandered over deserts and mountains, hiding
in caves and holes in the ground.
A. In verses 32 to 35 we read of people that God gave
a physical and spiritual victory to.
1. Songs are sung about David; Daniel;
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo.
B. But do we sing a lot of songs about the people
mentioned in verses 35 to 38?
1. Even though God’s word is glorifying these
martyrs.....it is still possible to consider them
“cursed” for God’s sake.
a. Did God love and care as much for these
people as He did for David, and Daniel,
and all the rest who claimed a victory?
1.) The truth is.....even though God
loved and cared for His servants,
they still died a cruel death.
a.) Remember.....one of the
truths of the Bible is this:
Death is a direct result of sin.
IV. Lastly....consider our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
A. God certainly did care for Him.
1. Yet with this much care for Christ, God
allowed Him to go through an agonizing
torture and death.
Matt. 27:27-56 - 27Some of the governor’s soldiers took
Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire
battalion. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on
him. 29They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it
on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a
scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling,
“Hail! King of the Jews!” 30And they spit on him and
grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it.
31When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took
off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then
they led him away to be crucified.
32As they were on the way, they came across a man
named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and they forced him
to carry Jesus’ cross. 33Then they went out to a place
called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill). 34The soldiers
gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had
tasted it, he refused to drink it.
35After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers
gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 36Then they sat
around and kept guard as he hung there. 37A signboard
was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing
the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of
the Jews.”
38Two criminals were crucified with him, their crosses
on either side of his. 39And the people passing by shouted
abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. 40“So! You can
destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can
you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself
and come down from the cross!”
41The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the
other leaders also mocked Jesus. 42“He saved others,” they
scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the king of
Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross, and we
will believe in him! 43He trusted God—let God show his
approval by delivering him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of
God.’” 44And the criminals who were crucified with him
also shouted the same insults at him.
45At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until
three o’clock. 46At about three o’clock, Jesus called out
with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which
means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he
was calling for the prophet Elijah. 48One of them ran and
filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a
stick so he could drink. 49But the rest said, “Leave him
alone. Let’s see whether Elijah will come and save him.”
50Then Jesus shouted out again, and he gave up his
spirit. 51At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn
in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split
apart, 52and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men
and women who had died were raised from the dead 53after
Jesus’ resurrection. They left the cemetery, went into the
holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.
54The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the
crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had
happened. They said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
55And many women who had come from Galilee with
Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance.
56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother
of James and Joseph), and Zebedee’s wife, the mother of
James and John.
B. But in Isaiah, we read that WE consider Christ’s
sufferings something that was placed on Christ....
not understanding that.....even though the Father
loved and cared for Christ very deeply....He also
needed to allow His Son to go through the agony
of the cross.
Isaiah 53:3-7 - 3He was despised and rejected—a man
of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our
backs on him and looked the other way when he went by.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our
sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his
troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!
5But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was
beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we
were healed! 6All of us have strayed away like sheep. We
have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD
laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
7He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a
word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep
is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
** Can we understand that even though God really loves
and cares for us.......it may be a part of His plan....for
whatever reason.....that we might have to suffer pain....
that we may not receive exactly what we have asked
for in prayer......that perceived “bad things” may enter
our lives?
CONCLUSION:
There are so many found in the scriptures.....that we could
name....such as Uriah the Hittite, Jonathan, the Apostles,
and many, many more......who may have not known why,
but still suffered in physical and spiritual ways....EVEN
THOUGH WE KNOW THAT GOD LOVED AND
CARED FOR THEM!!!!!!
A. Because God cares for us, does that make us
immune to bad things entering our lives.
Even though God cares for us......and especially
BECAUSE God cares for us.........we may not get every-
thing we ask for....when we ask for it.
A. We need to really understand, accept, and trust
the fact that God does love and care for us.
1. We need to be able to place everything in
His hands and KNOW that He cares and will
bring about the very best for us.
