DOES GOD CARE?

It did not look like it!

Consider Abel. Murdered in jealous hate by his brother, he became the first human being to die. Was his life meaningless then? Absolutely not-- he has preached longer than any preacher who has ever lived! By his more excellent sacrifice, having died, he yet speaks (Hebrews 11:14)! His lips are more eloquent in death than they could have been in life. But ask Abel, "Does God care?" and logic could only answer earnestly and emphatically that it did not look like it.

Consider Moses. He saw his beloved Israel groaning under bondage and abuse, but when he tried to help, he only made their plight worse. And his own, too! He had to flee into the desert, where he could do nothing more heroic than keep his father-in-law's sheep for 40 long years. He may well have wondered, "Does God care?" for it certainly did not look like it. But when he saw Jehovah's mighty hand at work in miraculously delivering them at the Red Sea, he got his answer.

Consider David. He had been anointed king but then suffered, being hunted down by Saul. this tribulation was a rough experience that tried his endurance and patience, but it produced psalms which have comforted the saints of God well nigh 3000 years. Did God care? During David's most grueling times he was able to say, "Behold, God is my helper... He has delivered me out of all trouble" (Psalm 54:4, 7).

Scripture teems with illustrations of how God cares in spite of appearances to the contrary. Let us cling to the thought, "If God is for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31). Do we feel forsaken, isolated? Then it is time to lean upon the Lord Himself.

Algernon J. Pollock