Does God Truly Care about Me?

 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1NKJV)

We know that God is a loving God and everything He allows to happen is for a good purpose. We also know that when seemingly evil things happen, He can use them to bring about good (Romans 8:28). We can even understand that God isn’t judging us in anger, but that He is correcting us as a loving Father. In spite of our knowledge of God’s love for us, when we suffer prolonged sicknesses or painful estrangements or endure financial hardships – we can seriously doubt that God actually cares.

In the Psalms, David was once so emotionally overwhelmed that he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1NIV). Sometimes it literally feels like God has forsaken us. Even though He hasn’t, the experience can be excruciating. This is especially true when we’re brought trouble on ourselves through our own mistakes.

At such times, we must remind ourselves of the basics – our heavenly Father loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for our sins so we could have eternal life. We often become so engrossed in this life that heaven can seem somewhat distant and irrelavent. But in times of severe testing, it gives us hope to know that God – who cannot lie – has promised us eternal life. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19NKJV).

And even though God may not immediately change our circumstances and relieve our suffering, He feels deeply what we’re going through. “In all their suffering he also suffered” (Isaiah 63:9NLT). Remember, God’s Son Jesus lived as a man on earth and can identify with our suffering. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15KJV).
God loves us and He feels what we’re going through – He cares.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

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*From Explore Your Faith, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.