Of course He does, and far more than any of us realise. Did you ever read Psalm 136? It consists of 26 verses, and each verse ends with the words, “His mercy ENDURETH for ever.” The first verse says, “O give thanks to the Lord; for He IS good: for His mercy ENDURETH for ever” If the Psalmist, with his limited knowledge compared with ours, had such confidence in the enduring mercy of our God, we may well with our fuller knowledge take up the strain with triumph and exultation.
How easily we get depressed! Business may be wrecked by present circumstances. Untoward circumstances are allowed, nay, may be planned, to test us, and show to us how little we really trust God.
Job of old, not even a favoured Jew, a sheik of the desert, was intent on maintaining his own ways, his own righteousness before the Lord, yet along with wrong thoughts as to himself, and tested far more than any of us in loss of health, vast possessions, and of family in one fell swoop, could say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15). Can we say as much as that?
I remember learning a great lesson, the effect of which abides. An elderly Christian man in Sydney, Australia, carried out a remarkable system of evangelisation.. He had in his back garden a really powerful telescope. He would invite his friends and neighbours to look through his telescope, and when they were impressed, he would bring before them the claims of a God of mighty creation, and from there would press upon them their need of a Saviour.
He pointed out to me a blank space in the heavens. He asked me if I could see anything in this blank space. I could not. He then bade me look at that blank space through the telescope. To my utter surprise I saw a large group of stars in a close cluster. To my still greater surprise he told me if his telescope were very powerful I would have seen hundreds of stars in that blank space.
My friend quoted, “He tells the numbers of the stars; He calls them all by their names” (Ps. 147:4). I could only respond by quoting “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it” (Ps. 39:6). I was overwhelmed. When I thought of the millions of stars, our planet a mere insignificant item in such a galaxy of wonder, and that God knows their numbers, and calls them by name. I exclaimed, “I can understand now more fully the Scripture, ‘Are not two, sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father knows. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows’ (Matt. 10:29-31)”. No wonder the Psalmist added the words, “His knowledge is INFINITE” (Ps. 147:5).
What a comfort filled my soul as I stood under that star-lit sky in distant Australia. I felt that nothing could be hid from God’s knowledge and loving care. If He could number the stars and note the falling worthless sparrow, He surely knew me and cared for me.
And when I reflected on the special relationship between God and myself, quite unlike the relationship simply of Creator that linked Him with the stars and sparrows—the special relationship forged in the furnace of divine love at the cross of Calvary, that God’s Son was my Saviour, and that in receiving Him I had the privilege to become a child of God (John.1:12), I could not doubt God’s care for me, whatever happens.
Might I not learn a lesson from the Apostle Paul, who at the beginning of his missionary career was found with bleeding back, feet fast in stocks in an inner noisome prison at midnight SINGING praises to God. At the end of his devoted career we see him as a prisoner in Rome. Paul the aged, worn out in the service of his Master, with no prospect before him, but of laying his head on the executioner’s block, yet he could write, “REJOICE in the Lord ALWAY: and again, I say, REJOICE” (Phil. 4:4).
We do well in bringing this article to a close by quoting Habakkuk’s brave words, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind’s feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places” (Hab. 3:17-10).
That is the spirit that will carry us through dark days.