We may misinterpret unwelcome situations as God’s indifference, or his silence as apathy.
Imagine growing up with an indifferent father who really didn’t care what happened to you (that may have been the case with you, and if so, this post will be good news indeed). Imagine that he was a “holic”: a workaholic or alcoholic or golfaholic or whateveraholic. What mattered to him was money or fun or ambition or friends, but his kids were an unwelcome responsibility, a burden, a distraction. When you wanted to talk, he didn’t have time. When you needed help, he wasn’t there. When you wanted to play with him, he was too tired.
Your Father in heaven isn’t like that! He cares about you. Everything about you matters to him. He is not forced into dividing his attention between you and his work. He cares about you in the way you always wished your earthly father could and would.
In non-agrarian societies, even the most caring fathers must navigate a continual tension between doing what they must to make a living for their family and actually spending time engaged with their family. But your heavenly Father has no such limitation.
Because your heavenly Father cares, he is sympathetic and compassionate. Because you infinitely matter to him, he has all the time you will ever need with him. When you talk to him, he looks you in the eyes and listens to every word you say. He is never too busy for you, never distracted. When you need help, he gives it.
Your Father cares more than any human could
All that good news is found in 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” (RSV).
David understood how much he mattered to God, and what he writes in Psalm 139 about the God who cares is as true for you as it was for him:
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:1–18 ESV)
Active concern
The truth of this Psalm can revolutionize your relationship with your heavenly Father. He cares about you like this, at all times, in things large and small, in every way. He is focused on you and thinking about you with love.
This is true even when your prayers go unanswered. Even when you are sick, even when you are afraid and worried, even when circumstances turn for the worst, even when you taste bitter disappointment. He cares about you.
Because your heavenly Father cares, he is not passive. When the time is right, he expresses his deep concern. David imagined God’s active concern like this in Psalm 18:
“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.” (Psalm 18:6–17 ESV)
This is the picture of a Father who cares! He is not passive about you! David wrote this even though he went through a period of years when he lived as a fugitive running for his life from King Saul. He knew what it was like not to have his prayers answered right away, not to have life going the way he wanted. Nevertheless he knew that through it all God cared about him.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We may misinterpret unwelcome situations as God’s indifference, or his silence as apathy.
God’s way: Everything that matters to you matters to your heavenly Father, and much, much more.
Life principle: Knowing that God cares enables you to trust and draw near to him in times of need and pain.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)