If God will provide, why do children starve and martyrs die?

[Jpark]

Does it really matter if you have faith, if you lack deliverance in your time of need?

1 Cor. 15:17

Physical deliverance is a privilege not bestowed to all but ultimate deliverance is.

And what about the starving children in Africa - children who can't understand the gospel, who aren't old enough to really 'get' the Bible, and who couldn't learn even if they were old enough because it's impossible to learn when you're starving to death?

John 9:2-3

A reminder to the rest of the world.

If the Lord provides for His people, than why was John martyred? Why do some escape their imprisonment through the Lord, while others suffer and ultimately and often painfully leave this world?

That's because his purpose was messenger.

“ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!

How can we trust God to provide for us when there are so many times when He doesn't - when a mother's newborn child dies, when Christians die from persecution (even in the modern day, at least occasionally, in the middle east - not even missionaries, not even people practicing Christianity against the government!).

I mean, I get the fact that our lives can suck (at least temporarily) and that we can go through intense suffering, but that the Lord will see us through; but what about when He sees us through and we just end up dying in pain and suffering, and what about when innocent children die for naught?

Eph. 4:26-27, Eccl. 2:25

You can't be consumed by your hatred and suffering if you are not consumed by the world. You can sin 99% of the time but if you remember God and cleanse yourself by taking the initiative, then you still have a chance.

 

[PaladinValer]

The Bible says that God will provide for those who believe. Okay, I'm cool with that - I get it. But what about martyrdom? What about when a missionary gets murdered for no reason other than expression of their faith?

<snip>

God gives what we need for salvation, not necessarily to be happy in a worldly sense.

 

[Knee V]

<snip>

God gives what we need for salvation, not necessarily to be happy in a worldly sense.

Indeed!

Would it not be better to have everything fall apart and, in the rubble, find Christ? What is cancer, or poverty, or loss, or pain, compared to knowing Christ?! We're going to break down and die of something - it may as well be something that will open us up to Christ.

The great thing is that Christ has turned death into a portal to true Life. Suffering and death are going to happen, but they happened to Christ as well. When we suffer, be it justly or unjustly, we know that Christ is right there in our suffering. In other words, through our suffering we are able to find Christ all the more deeply than if we never experienced suffering and death.

God is not concerned with us being happy or comfortable - He's concerned with us knowing Him.

 

[JohnRabbit]

we have to understand God's purpose.

notice what happened in the days of abraham:

Genesis 15:7(NKJV)
7Then He said to him, &#8220;I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.&#8221;...15Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16But in the fourth generation they(abraham's descendants) shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.&#8221;

here God gives tremendous information to abraham (and to us), about when He would bestow the inheritance, and it had to do with the "iniquity of the amorites".

this period was about four hundred years, and then God intervened on behalf of His people (ex 3:8, gal 3:17)!

now if we can understand what the dream of Nebuchadnezzar means, then we can understand why children starve and martyrs die.

daniel tells the dream in dan 2:31-35 and he interprets the dream in dan 2:36-45.

God showed the reign of the gentile kingdoms, starting with nebuchadnezzar down through time until the return of Christ (verses 44,45). when Christ first came to this earth, even He was living under one of those governments prophesied (verse 40, matt 22:21).

Jesus made a reference in luke, when speaking of the coming great tribulation:

Luke 21:24(NKJV)
24And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

so, now we are witnessing the "times of the gentiles", this period that God has
allotted, which is just about to end.

and again, God will intervene on behalf of His people!

but of course, under "gentile rule", we will, unfortunately, see children starve and martyrs die (rev 18:4).



we have to remember, that His kingdom is coming!

 

[SolomonVII]

....
Does it really matter if you have faith, if you lack deliverance in your time of need?

James

Jesus seems to answer this question specfically:

"If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it".

It is not an easy answer for sure. Maybe it is even an impossible answer.
But that is, as far as I can tell, the answer that Jesus himself gives us to that question.

He is telling you that he will not deliver you from death, but if you die for him, there is where your deliverance lies.

 

[Rick Otto]

<snip>

God gives what we need for salvation, not necessarily to be happy in a worldly sense.

That's it. Well put, PaladinValer.

 

[bling]

The Bible says that God will provide for those who believe. Okay, I'm cool with that - I get it. But what about martyrdom? What about when a missionary gets murdered for no reason other than expression of their faith?

And what about the starving children in Africa - children who can't understand the gospel, who aren't old enough to really 'get' the Bible, and who couldn't learn even if they were old enough because it's impossible to learn when you're starving to death?

If the Lord provides for His people, than why was John martyred? Why do some escape their imprisonment through the Lord, while others suffer and ultimately and often painfully leave this world?

How can we trust God to provide for us when there are so many times when He doesn't - when a mother's newborn child dies, when Christians die from persecution (even in the modern day, at least occasionally, in the middle east - not even missionaries, not even people practicing Christianity against the government!).

I mean, I get the fact that our lives can suck (at least temporarily) and that we can go through intense suffering, but that the Lord will see us through; but what about when He sees us through and we just end up dying in pain and suffering, and what about when innocent children die for naught?

Does it really matter if you have faith, if you lack deliverance in your time of need?

James

You are asking the questions most people ask sometime(s) in their lives: “How could a Loving God allow ______ to happen?”

This question God address as early as possible with the Garden Story, because what people are really asking is: “Why can’t we be in a Garden type situation without death, hunger, pain, needy people, and have God visiting us daily?” Well God shows us with the Garden Story, that a Garden type situation is a lousy (impossible) place for humans to fulfill their earthly objective.

God has to quench His own desires (have us in the Garden situation) to provide the best situation for at least some humans to fulfill their earthly objective.