Got Problems?

Some have said that the Bible’s promises are false. That His followers are supposed to receive health and wealth and when that does not happen, either God does not exist, He lies or that follower is not living as they should.

That thought usually comes when hand picking feel-good verses and ignoring the others. We’re promised a lot more in the following:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 KJV)

That doesn’t sound to me as though Paul was receiving all the health and wealth those today are seeking. Here Luke writes of Paul as a prisoner:

So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. (Acts 23:18 KJV)

Paul himself speaks of a constant, nagging reminder that we lack:

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. (2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV)

The Christ we follow didn’t have much, either:

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Matthew 8:20 KJV)

Peter and John didn’t fare well in the wealth department, either:

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Acts 3:6 KJV)

As for not being healthy, Christ’s disciples asked about such a one, and His answer should be considered:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:1-3 KJV)

There is a biblical application for every situation. But not every verse applies to each situation. Allow God to speak and direct. He still knows better than we do!