WHEN GOD SEEMS SO WICKED OR DOES NOT SEEM TO CARE (PART 1)

REFERENCE SCRIPTURE Job 5:6-7 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; Yet man is born to trouble, as [surely as] the sparks fly upward. SOME LIFE SITUATIONS THAT MAKE GOD LOOKS SO WICKED/UNCARING 1. Prolonged job search 2. Delayed manifestation of a future partner 3. Having a tough time in marriage 4. Having a tough time in business or at workplace 5. Poverty and Lack 6. Being misunderstood every time 7. “Feeling” Unappreciated 8. Unfulfilled Dreams etc. etc. SOME REASONS WHY THESE ARE SO 1. A test of character – Joseph’s example in Genesis 37, 39-41 God does not use an untested vessel - Joseph was not popular among his family members - He was hated by his own brothers - He was sold as a slave by his own brothers - He was thrown into prison for an offence he did not commit - He was forgotten in the prison by someone whose dream he helped to interpret - He was eventually elevated and honoured above all his adversaries 2. The purging of the soul/punishment for sin – The example of David in 1 Samuel 11-18 - David had an illicit affair with the wife of Uriah, one of his subjects, and had him killed at war in order to save his face when she became pregnant - The first child the woman born to him died, despite his earnest prayers and fasting (1 Samuel 12) - David’s son, Amnon, raped his step-sister, Tamar (1 Samuel 13) - Absalom, Tamar’s brother, killed Amnon in vengeance for the defilement of his sister (1 Samuel 13) - Absalom later declared himself as king of Israel and caused David to flee the city for the wilderness (1 Samuel 15:10-18) - Some trusted friends and counsellors of David deserted him to pitch their tents with Absalom (1 Samuel 15:31) - David was cursed and stoned by Shimei while wandering in the wilderness in fear of his son (1 Samuel 16:5-8) - Absalom slept with his father’s concubines on top of the house, in the full glare of the public! (1 Samuel 16:20-22) - David lost another dear son, Absalom, when the rebellion was eventually quenched (1 Samuel 18:32-33) - All of these, and other misfortunes, befallen David because of the sin of adultery and murder that he committed