Does God even care?

What warrants the attention of God?  Financial ruin?  Divorce? Addiction? A terminal medical condition? There are nearly 7 billion people in the world, does He even care about your situation?  Sure, to me it might seem major, but doesn’t God have more to concern Himself with than my problems?  For some of you it may seem like He doesn’t care at all. 

Many of you know about our current state of transition, our continuing wait for permits to be granted to a country for over a year now.  A wait that has included 8 moves (with another coming in 2 more weeks) and sleeping in some 29 locations.  Not exactly a tragedy, but a trying time none-the-less.  It pales in comparison to those who are dealing with serious illnesses or those whose prayers have gone seemingly unanswered for years on end for the salvation of a spouse, child or friend.  Our wait seems minuscule compared to those of you who have lost loved ones, lost jobs, or lost hope.  

As I have been reading through the Bible this year, God has drawn my attention to parts of passages that I just glanced over in the past.  One of those is the story of Jesus calming the raging sea.  You might remember the story found in Mark 4.  Jesus got in a boat and while on the water a great storm arose so that the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling with water.  Where was Jesus in all of this?  Asleep, in the stern, on a cushion.  Of course, the disciples wake Jesus and He rebukes the wind and told the sea to be still, and the creation followed the creators instruction.  Jesus then turns to the disciples and offers a mild rebuke to them, “Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?”  The disciples were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  

I get the Christological significance of the passage.  Jesus was God.  Even creation is in submission to him.  And that is of extreme importance and I in no way desire to diminish that.  Here’s the deal though, often our questions are not about the nature of Jesus for we have already settled that question in our minds.  More often, we identify with the disciples when they ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (vs. 38) Our struggles are often not doctrinal but practical in nature.  Our questions are not “does God know?” because doctrinally we know that God knows everything.  Our questions are “Does God care?”  We know that He knows but we struggle to harmonize seemingly unanswered prayers with a caring God.  God, do you not care how we are struggling?  God, do you not care that my marriage is falling apart?  God,  do you not care that I have been wronged?  God, do you not care that my child is straying from the faith?  God, do you not care that I lost my job? God, do you not care...? 

The way Jesus responds might be amusing if it wasn’t so convicting.  What the disciples get from Jesus initially is exactly what they were hoping for.  He calms the wind and the sea and they are safe from harm.  But His question to them is what’s so telling and unfortunately so applicable to me.  “Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?”  Jesus question ties doctrine and faith together.  Practical theology if you will.  Our trust in God to handle our situations is intrinsically tied to our doctrinal beliefs.  It is so much so that there is probably no greater disparity in our lives than what we say we believe about God and the lack of manifestation of those beliefs in our daily living.  Let me briefly attempt to unpack that a little.

These are part of my doctrinal beliefs; God is love.  God is all powerful.  God is all knowing.  God is sovereign.  Yet in all of the above areas I am or have struggled with practically living out those beliefs.  If God is love, why did He let my brother pass away from cancer when he was only 17?  If He is love and all powerful, why does he not clear the way for us to go to a unreached and unengaged people group?  If He controls the wind and the waves surely a work permit is not too hard for Him!  I know and confess these things doctrinally but to apply them to situations in my life is a little more difficult.  Yet, if the proof is in the pudding, then so what we believe about God is better seen in how we live then in what we say we believe.  

The disciples question was “don’t you care?”  Jesus takes care of their situation, but then points them back to himself and the disciples begin to grasp the significance of their boating experience.  “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Our question, like the disciples, in difficult times is also, “don’t you care?”  We only have to look to the cross to know the depth of compassion the Christ has for us.  We must be careful however not to base our feelings toward God on an emotional platform but on the person of Christ.  Our dedication, loyalty and commitment to Christ must not be based on what He can do for us, but in who He is and what He has already done.  When we settle this in our minds and hearts we will know the God who cares...  

For His Glory,

dp