Does God only care about our salvation?
Question:
Hi,
I am struggling with my faith. It is hard for me to trust God to answer my prayers for friendship and marriage because I think God only cares about my eternal destination and not about my life here on earth. God has given me everything I need like food and clothing but He hasn't given me anything I want, like friendship and other relationships. Does God only care about our salvation? Does He care about our lives here? How can we trust God to grant our prayers when He doesn't guarantee that they will be granted?
When God said it wasn't good for Adam to be alone, did he mean just Adam or did he mean all people including women? I feel like since I am a woman that means it is okay that I am alone because to me right now it seems like God favored men and not women. It's hard to know what promises in the Bible I can claim. I know I can claim and believe every promise about eternal life but it is difficult for me to claim promises for anything else like the one stated in Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalms 37:4. What promises from the Old Testament can I claim for myself? I feel like I don't have a foundation to stand on anymore. And all my hope has been taken away because the people I have been talking to on various sites and have had all of them tell me so many different things and some of them hurtful. I don't know what to believe. I have no hope that my prayers will be answered at the moment.
But I grew up in a church of Christ and when I was focusing on only their teachings and no one else's I felt like I did have a solid foundation and I want that again. I want to hope and have faith that my prayers will be answered.
Thank you.
Answer:
While you state that you grew up attending a church, it sounds more like you are picking up ideas from just about any source but the Bible. There is nothing in the Scriptures about "claiming" God's promises. God has given promises that you can receive if you do as God has commanded. "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked" (I John 2:3-6).
Jeremiah 29:11 was written to the Jews who were sent off into exile.
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.' For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,' declares the LORD. For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile'" (Jeremiah 29:4-14).
God told the Jews to settle in because they would not return to Israel for seventy years. It didn't matter what other so-called prophets claimed, God would not change His plans. But God promised that at the end of seventy years to bring them back to Israel. Thus, you changed this discussion about God's promise to Israel and turned it into a claim that God promised a good life to everyone. It wasn't good for the Jews sent off into captivity and many of them would die before the return to Israel.
God doesn't promise an easy life for everyone. In fact, Christ warned that life for Christians may be hard. "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:10-12).
"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday" (Psalms 37:3-6).
Prayers are answered when are asked in faith, but you tell me that you don't think God will answer. "But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6-8). And what we pray for must be according to what God wants from us. "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" (I John 5:14-15). Thus, we should never expect to receive answers to prayers that lead us to commit sin. The passage from Psalms 37 emphasizes that the person is first dedicated to God and has trust in God, then God will bring good things into that person's life.
It sounds like you are looking for a husband, and such is according to God's will. But you can't sit back and wait for someone to knock on your door. If you believe that marriage is best for you, then you need to be actively searching for a husband who will help you be a better Christian. God will take care of the things you can't control. When you don't do anything, then you are indicating that you aren't confident that God will help you find a good man to marry.
