Does God Care?
by J. R. Miller, 1912
About the beginning of this century, an unbeliever was
reported to have said that the mission of the twentieth century would be to
discover God, and when God should be discovered, it would be found that he
does not care. It would be a bitter sorrow for the world—if this opinion was
true. Into countless homes and hearts—it would bring the darkness of
despair. The secret of hope in believing souls everywhere, is that God
does care! This is the one great truth that God has been striving
through all the generations, to have men believe. This is the whole gospel
of redemption. The Bible presents it on its every page. The world's
condemning unbelief, has always been its refusal to believe that God cares.
But does God really care? Is there anywhere, an
omnipotent ear—which hears the world's cries of pain—and gives attention to
them? Is there anywhere a loving heart which is touched by the world's
sorrows, which feels with those who suffer, and which desires to give help
and comfort? The greatest stranger when he is passing along the street and
sees one suffering, in pain or distress—somewhat cares and pities him. A
tender-hearted man feels even for an animal, or a bird which has been hurt.
Some great calamity occurs—the destruction of a city by an earthquake, a
volcanic eruption pouring its lava streams over homes and villages, an
explosion in a mine, burying hundreds of miners—and a wave of pain sweeps
over the world. Human hearts are sensitive to every shade of need and
experience in others. When we see a passing hearse, telling us that there is
death within, that a family is mourning, though they are utter strangers to
us—our hearts are touched, we walk softly, laughter is hushed, loud speech
is restrained, we speak more quietly. We care. Is God less
compassionate than men are?
Some believe, that God's care is general—not
individual. They believe that all things in creation and providence, are
planned for the good of the race as a whole. The movements of the
earth are so guided as to bring day and night, the seasons in their order,
cold and heat, winds and tides and all the changes which bring health,
comfort and fruitfulness. God is good to all. "He makes his sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." Nature
is ready with gentle service, in all its attributes and forces. But it
is the same to all. There is no love in all this, no care for any
individual. They sat that the providence of God is kindly, benevolent,
helpful—but is no more so to the weak than to the strong, to the sick than
to the well, to the distressed and broken-hearted than to the happy and
rejoicing. There seems to be no special divine tenderness shown to a
home where there is suffering, or where there is great need or bitter
sorrow. Life appears no more kindly to the blind man, to the cripple,
to the helpless, to the bedridden—than to those who have the use of all
their powers and faculties and are well and strong.
Does God really care for us, as individuals? Does he give
personal thought to any of us—to you, to me—according to our condition? Does
pain or trouble in us, cause pity in his heart? Does God care? Does he see
the individual in the crowd? When you are passing through some great
trouble, enduring pain or adversity—does God know it, and does he care? Does
he have any thought or feeling for you different from that which he has for
the person living in the house next to yours—who has no trouble, no
suffering?
We know how it is with our human friends. Love is
individual. Its interest in us is sympathetic, and varies with our
condition and our need. When we are happy, without painful condition, our
friends love us—but feel no anxiety concerning us. Tomorrow we are sick or
are suffering from some painful accident, or enduring some loss. Then they
love us no more than before—but their hearts are torn with sympathy. That is
what it means to care. Is there any such experience as this in God? When we
suffer—does he suffer too? Does he know that we are in any particular
need—and is his feeling toward us affected by our experience?
A mother was speaking to a trusted friend about her
daughter. The child had had a bitter sorrow, a sore disappointment. The
mother knew just what her daughter was passing through. Her love for her
child, entered into and shared all the child's experiences. The mother
cared. Is there ever anything like this in the heart of God—as he looks upon
his children and knows that they are suffering?
The Psalmist says: "I am poor and needy—yet the Lord
thinks upon me!" There was wonderful comfort in this assurance. For a man,
one man, in the great world of millions—poor, needy, surrounded by enemies
and dangers, and with no human friend or helper, to be able to say: "Yet the
Lord thinks upon me!" was to find marvelous strength.
But was the needy and beleaguered soul justified in its
confidence? Was it indeed true—that the great God in heaven thought upon his
servant on the earth in his loneliness and suffering? Or was it only a
imagined assurance, with which to comfort himself? Did God really care
for him? And does God care for us, and think upon us—when we
are poor and needy?
When we turn to the Bible we find on every page the
revelation—that God does care! The Old Testament is full of luminous
illustrations of the truth. A great crime has been committed, a brother
slain by a brother—and God cares! A woman is in distress because she has
been cast out—and God cares! The Lord has heard your affliction," was the
message sent to comfort her. All the Bible story shines with records of
similar divine care. The Psalms likewise are full of assurances of
God's personal interest in men.
Christ teaches the same truth. He speaks over and over of
the Father's thought and care. He told his disciples that amid all his care
of the worlds—God clothes the grass and the lilies, and finds time to attend
to the feeding of the birds, and in all the events of the universe, notes
the fall of a little sparrow. He assured them further that the very hairs of
their heads are all numbered, meaning that God personally cares for all the
minutest affairs of our lives. Not only did Christ teach that God cares for
his children—but that he cares for them as individuals. His love is
not merely a vague kindly sentiment of interest, in the whole human
family—but it is personal and individual as the love of a mother for each
one of her children.
The Shepherd calls his sheep by name. Paul took the love
of Christ to himself as if he were the only one Christ loved. "He loved
me—and gave himself up for me!" God's love is personal.
His heart lays hold upon each life. He cares for us—for me! He
enters into all our individual experiences. If we suffer—he suffers. In a
remarkable passage in the Old Testament, the writer, speaking of the love of
God for his people, says: "In all their suffering—he also suffered, and he
personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted
them up and carried them through all the years." Isaiah 63:9. How could the
care of God for his children, be expressed in plainer or more positive way?
In their afflictions—he was afflicted. When they suffered—he suffered. In
their sorrows—he sorrowed!
We know how Jesus entered into all the experiences of his
disciples. Their life was his. It is the same today. In heaven he is touched
with the feeling of his people's infirmities! If you are weak—the burden of
your weakness presses upon him. If you are hurt—the hurt is felt by
him. If you are wronged—he endures the wrong. There is no experience of your
life—which he does not share. Whatever your need, your trial, your
perplexity, your struggle may be—you may be sure that God knows and
cares—and that when you come to him with it, he will take time amid all his
infinite affairs to help you—as if he had nothing else in all the world to
do!
God cares! His love for each one of His children is so
deep, so personal, so tender—that He has compassion on our every pain, every
distress, every struggle. "As a father has compassion on his children, so
the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him!" Psalms 103:13. God is our
Father, and his care is gentler than a human father's—as his love exceeds
human love.
Much human care has no power to help—but when God
cares—he helps omnipotently. Jesus said that when his friends would leave
him alone—yet he would not be alone—"because the Father is with me." When
human friendship comes not with any relief—then God will come. When no one
in all the world cares—then God cares! "Cast all your care upon Him, because
He cares about you!" 1 Peter 5:7