Does God Really Care? Part II

The Israelites are not the only ones in the bible that were like chameleons in the bible.  There was another group of people that were just like them; the disciples of Jesus Christ.  We read in the word of God about all the miracles that Jesus performs in their presence. In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and 2 fish.  Right after this, the NLT says that Jesus “insisted” that they go ahead of him and cross to other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. Some other translations say that Jesus “made” them go ahead of him. The KJV says that Jesus “constrained” his disciples. The mentioning of Jesus insisting/constraining his disciples go ahead of him suggests that they did not want to leave.  While Jesus stayed behind to pray, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, because a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves.  The bible does not say this but I can imagine what was going through the minds of these guys at that moment.  I imagine them thinking that the reason why Jesus insisted they leave ahead of him was so that they drown and die in the belly of the sea.  I mean if he is all knowing; surely he should have known that there would be a great storm in the sea, so he purposely led us there to die.  Sometimes that is what we think, that God has led us to a place so that we can die.  It could be a job which you sure that God told spoke to you about taking, and things don’t go as smooth as you thought it would and you start thinking that he led you there to finish your career.  When all these things are happening in our lives happen, we forget about what he just did and we think of how he is failing us (or so we think).  Now in the midst if the storm, Jesus appears walking on water and the disciples think that he is a ghost.  And I thought that at this moment the disciples thought “oh no, things cannot get worse than they already are” “I mean it is enough that our “Lord” has abandoned us to die in the belly of the sea, but now a ghost. Shoo.” 

We all know that in the end Jesus reveals himself as Lord once again and after Jesus gets onto the boat; the wind stopped.  When Jesus came into the boat, the disciples started to worship him saying “You really are the son of God.”  Now their faith is restored.  I imagine that all the thoughts they had about him were all erased in their minds, more like “gulp … I take that back, you’re the Man.”  One would think that after witnessing such great miracles, the disciples would never ever doubt him again. Especially since they said that they realized that he “… really is the son of God.” But in a couple of days, we read in the bible that Jesus heals multitudes of people on a mountain.  Then Jesus called his disciples and told them he feels sorry that the people had been there for 3 days and had nothing to eat. The disciples ask where they would get enough food to feed the people as they have 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish.  I am stunned by this because if I was them and I saw what God did with the 5 loaves and 2 fish; I would say: “well … you multiplied the bread and fish a couple of days ago, sure you can do that with this that we have now … right.” I probably wouldn’t have thought that I can do it, but I sure will put some faith in him.  This shows that Jesus was just another “man” to them at that moment, they had really grasped that he was God. So Jesus does the same miracle that he did a couple of days ago and feeds four thousand hungry souls. 

Is this how we would our relationship with God to be like?  We give him tests to prove himself, and even when he does we still don’t believe.  How about we give ourselves to him and allow him to do what he wants with or lives?  Won’t you just allow him to be God and do what he does best … “working everything together for our good.”  You can only do this if you TRUST him and we trust when we are sure that we are loved.  If you still do not trust him, you most likely are not sure if God loves you.  The sooner you admit this, the sooner you can deal with it. 

What does this mean then? Does it mean that we are hopeless? Is there is no cure for our doubting disease? Well … the Israelites and the disciples were just examples of how we are as Christians; it doesn’t have to be that way because there are models in the bible of what we should do in such situations.  One of the models is Paul (Saul of Tarsus.) In the book of Acts, Paul gets a vision of someone calling out for help in Macedonia and immediately gets on his way to go there and preach the gospel as he believed that God was leading them there.  Now he gets to Philippi and there was a fortune teller who made a lot of money for her owners through telling the future.  Now Paul got irritated with this woman and drove out the demon that gave her the ability to tell the future.  At this, the owners were angry and accused Paul and Silas of disrupting the city.  Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods and imprisoned.  If we look at the situation we might say that Paul has every right to be angry at God, right.  I mean God led him there, now where was he when he was beaten and thrown into jail after doing His work? Well, thank God that he does not think that way because his trust in the Lord then shows us another one of the many miracles that God performed in the Bible.  While Paul and Silas were in jail, they were singing hymns and praying to God.  I don’t know about you, but I do not imagine them praying like this: “Lord break these chains and get us out of this place in your mighty power in Jesus name, Amen!!!!!” No, I imagine them just giving God the praise for who he is and what he has done.  I imagine them affirming God’s power and just thanking him.  We all know that there comes a great earthquake and all the chains were broken and doors flew open.  To cut the story short, the guard is saved through this and Paul and Silas don’t break out of the prison, instead they wait until they are released by the magistrate.  Paul did not look at this as torture, but an opportunity for the Mighty God to reveal his power through him.  I love that!!! Imagine if Paul and Silas were moaning in the prison cell and all the other prisoners were listening, the testimony of a great God would be killed, but they praised him and his glory was revealed.  The question is: In your trials and struggles; would you like God to be glorified or the testimony of his goodness and love to be nullified and made void?

You have asked God a lot of questions in your walk with him, now allow him to ask you these questions from his flawless word:

 “What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Rom 8:31

 The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won't he? Rom 8:32

Who will separate us from the Messiah's love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this? Rom 8:35

Let us close this with what Paul assures us of in Romans 8:37-39.

In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

I once thought that if Paul had to mention all the things that cannot separate us from God love, he would run out of ink.

God Bless Ya Staxxxx