Does God Even Care?
If you ask the question, “does God even care,” you have to have some bit of hope that He does care. There is a wonder in the hearts of all men of someone greater than themselves. Any reasonable person would look at the complexities of the universe, even their bodies, and consider that there has to be something, if not someone, behind the heavens and earth.
However, the tragedies of life have a way of getting us down. We become hurt and disillusioned at times. This provides an opportunity to question if God even cares about us. We are tempted to look at all the external problems in the world and all the internal problems in ourselves and let them overcome us. In these times we may, like the Psalmist, question why things are the way they are. "How long, O Jehovah? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me" (Ps 13:1). In those moments we need to turn to God and recognize what He can and will do for His people.
God Has Seen and Heard.
One of the best examples we might find in the scripture is how God dealt with Israel in response to their bondage in Egypt. When God spoke to Moses out of the flame as recorded in Exodus 3 He explained His plan to help His people.
And Jehovah said I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. (emphasis mine)
(Exodus 3:7-8)
God said to Moses that He had surely seen the affliction of His people. The affliction His people endured is described in Exodus chapters 1-2 in various ways. First, they enslaved the people of Israel (cf. Ex 1:11-14). The burden of slavery was great, and when the Egyptians increased their affliction, God continued to bless them and multiply them. God saw what was going on and He blessed them more. The harder the labor the Egyptians put on them, the more God's people grew and spread abroad. God sees His people's suffering; He is very much aware and will act in response.
The text says that God heard their cry because of their taskmasters. The people of God cried out to the God of Heaven and He heard them. What comfort it is for the Christian that when we are enduring hardship, sickness, stress, and anxiety, we can pray and our Father will hear us? We can read in many places about Moses, the prophets, and the psalms that show that God's people often cried to Jehovah and He heard them.
God Knows
The next step that the Egyptian administration took to subdue the Hebrews was to enact a policy of male infanticide. I am sure that the great work burdens placed on the people brought them down. Day in and day out overly hard labor will wear anyone physically, mentally, and even spiritually at times. However, I surmise that the most difficult thing was after all the labor the powers at be desired to kill all Hebrew male babies. Does God know the sorrow of those mothers and fathers? Yes, he does. He says as much. This was true before and many years later when God appeared to Moses in Midian. God knew the sorrow His people endured.
God knows the sorrow that happens in our lives today. He knows how a long sickness affects not only the one suffering but all those who love them. He knows the sadness that we share as we grieve a lost loved one. He knows the damage that the consequences of sin in this world have done to all people. He knows that even His people suffer from this broken world we live in. Yet, God does not merely have knowledge of our circumstances, He has the desire to act and correct them.
God Will Deliver
God promised to deliver His people. They would be delivered from the Egyptians who had put them into bonds and murdered their children. God said he would not just liberate them, but He would give them a land of their own. He would not give them a wasteland but a land flowing with milk and honey. A land so good it had inhabitants that God would even dispossess of it. God delivered Israel. He can deliver you!
In this world, we may have been hurt, hated, and hapless, but God is a God of deliverance. Anxiety bears down and makes life hard for many, but our God sees our anxiety, hears our prayerful cries, and will deliver us from all the terror that presents itself in our lives. All we have to do is what God has said we must do. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you" (1 Pet 5:6-7). The first step is to understand that we must humble ourselves enough to seek the help of One greater than us, recognizing that he can deliver us. His hand is mighty! When we approach God with our humble hearts, we then can let go of our troubles, giving them to Him. He wants us to give it all to him. So when you feel overwhelmed by anxiety, recognize God knows, sees, and hears His people, and will deliver them with His mighty hand.
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
