Does God care?

It may have crossed your mind so many times. It may be on your mind now. You may have so many questions with a foundational query to the care of God about your situation. It’s all good. It’s alright. Life happens. The shocking part? God knows about it! Not so shocking after all, is it? So why’s He not doing anything about it? Especially when I’ve prayed about it so many times! Where is God in all this? Why is He not saying anything? And many more questions we often ask. It’s good to ask questions, legitimately so.

I tell you what, God is in the situation with you. Did you know that? Now you know and you better believe it because it is true! A story is told of a group of people who were in a boat on the sea and suddenly, there was a storm! Oh dear! What would they do? I bet you they may have tried everything but one. How often do we try every other avenue of help that fails us! They suddenly remembered that the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe – God in the form of man(yes, fully God and fully man) – was comfortably asleep on the boat! Imagine!! Oh, He was fast asleep! But they called on Him- even though all hope seemed lost. They reached out to the Lord implying the question, “Are you concerned about this peril that had befallen us, seeing that we were about to perish, Lord?”

In this story, Jesus simply speaks to the storm, and the mighty storm that threatened the very lives of these disciples died down as if nothing threatened them. Just pause here and think about their reaction. They were astounded. Utterly shocked and in amazement, they ask who this is, that even the winds and waves obey Him. Wow! Wow!

This story is found in the Bible. Its from Mark 4:35-41. Let’s look at this carefully. Look at their reaction when the unexpected storm hit, and what they resorted to do when hope was lost.

Now the Bible says, ” On that day, when evening had come, he said to them(by context, the disciples), “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” “
Mark 4:35‭-‬41 ESV
First of, they knew who Jesus was. But Jesus was asleep in the stern. When the storm hit, they tried everything but to call on Jesus and later remembered to.

Oh, how often we relegate the Lord to the background! He is always waiting to be called on(cf. Psalm 34:17). But we do that as a point of last resort. Oh that we may change our priorities!

Now, do you think God cared about these people? Of course He did! So why didn’t He intervene? He hadn’t been called on. More importantly, He asked them where their faith was, and its the same I ask you. Yes, you’ve prayed. Yes, you’ve been praying. Where’s your faith? He only needs faith(the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of the things unseen. Cf. Hebrews 11:1). Okay, you still don’t get it? Look at the story of Lazarus who was dead. Yes, Jesus was called upon to intervene, but He intervened after days! What?! He gets to the scene and just calls Lazarus out. Simple. When He appears on the scene, even the dead come back to life (cf. John 11:1-44) . That’s why He says we should cast our cares to Him because He cares for us (cf. 1 Peter 5:7). And He never goes back on His word(cf. Isaiah 55:10,11).

You can hold God by His word because it moves Him, He watches over it to perform it(cf. Numbers 23:19, Isaiah55:11). Rather than complaining, which won’t solve anything, hold on to your faith in expectation that He will come through. That which you’ve lost, He can restore no matter what. He says he’s the God of all flesh, and there’s nothing too hard for Him to do (cf. Numbers 23:19) With God, all things are possible (cf. Matthew 19:26). Look at Job in the Bible. Can you fit in his shoes? Put yourself in his shoes for a moment, would you? He knew his God but still we see what he goes through.

Beloved, the problem is not God. It’s a lack of knowledge of the Lord God and His ways. If you knew, you’d realise His ways are never our ways (cf. Isaiah 55:8,9). Check it out for yourself. Get to know God by studying His word because throughout scripture, we see His sovereignty (I’ll talk about this in another post). How would you have felt if you were Job? Abandoned and deserted, I know. But do you see the restoration? All I’m saying is, there’s nothing you are going through that is difficult for God to do.

One thing I want you to understand is this: God doesn’t work with our time. He has His time because He is sovereign. He’s not confined by time. So till He comes through, keep waiting in hope and let that drive you to thanksgiving in anticipation because He will come through. Hold on because He cares much more than you can think and will come through at the right time(Isaiah 60:22). God never delays. Always remember.

Shalom!