{"id":69,"date":"2009-06-27T23:54:50","date_gmt":"2009-06-28T05:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharingchrist.wordpress.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2009-06-27T23:54:50","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T05:54:50","slug":"21-do-you-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/21-do-you-care\/","title":{"rendered":"21. Do You Care?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” Luke 10:40<\/em><\/p>\n

“But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38<\/em><\/p>\n

Martha questioned the Lord’s care about her service, while the disciples questioned His care about their safety.<\/p>\n

Martha did not understand the priority of the Lord’s word or its importance. The disciples did not understand the power of the Lord’s word and His authority.<\/p>\n

When Martha questioned the Lord’s care, she was occupied with her self: feeling unnoticed and unappreciated. When the disciples questioned the Lord’s care, they were occupied with their state: feeling afraid and powerless.<\/p>\n

Does the Lord Jesus care? We read in John 11:5, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Here Martha is mentioned first. He did not love Mary more than Martha. Nor did he rebuke Martha for her self-centeredness or discount her service.\u00a0 In Mark 4:39-40, He showed His care by rebuking the wind, creating peace, and then questioned them saying, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”.<\/p>\n

How interesting that the only time I think of when the Lord slept, He not only received rest for His body but also even in sleep was able to teach his disciples a lesson about anxiety. There was never a time when He was out of the Father’s will. He was not lazy; even in sleep He had purpose.<\/p>\n

Does our Lord care for us? 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” This does not mean we will not suffer- but in our sufferings He is there to give us the strength and comfort we need to bear the affliction that is but “for a moment” in comparison with the vast eternity with Him. No matter what happens to us down here, we know that He knows, and He cares. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” Romans 8:37. Calvary is the wonderful demonstration of the love and care He has toward His own, His bride.<\/p>\n

Isa 40:27\u00a0 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
\nIsa 40:28\u00a0 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
\nIsa 40:29\u00a0 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.<\/p>\n

May our thoughts be occupied with Him today, our all-powerful, ever caring Friend.<\/p>\n

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version\u00ae, copyright \u00a9\u00a02001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” Luke 10:40 “But he was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12,21,67,73],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-anxiety","tag-care","tag-stress","tag-worry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}