Does God Really Care? / Pastor Randy Goldenberg / FCF Church

The question presses deeper than a quick “of course God cares.” The real question asks whether God cares specifically, whether he knows what it feels like to be scared, unwanted, guilty, ashamed, rejected, or hanging on by a thread. Psalm 103 answers by calling the soul to praise the Lord and not forget all his kind deeds, because forgetfulness makes God’s care feel absent even when his gifts are everywhere.

David names the God who forgives sins, heals diseases, delivers life from the pit, crowns his people with loyal love and compassion, and satisfies life with good things. The Psalm does not describe a distant God who keeps things ticking generically. The Psalm shows a Father whose compassion rests on his faithful followers, whose loyal love towers over them, and whose forgiveness removes guilt as far as the east is from the west.

God’s actions show his care every day through every good gift, every healing, every close call, every meal, every kindness, and every breath that still works. Thinking and thanking become the spiritual language the soul needs, because unregistered gifts do not reshape the heart. God does not need thanksgiving, but human beings need to become thankful so his care can be felt and internalized.

Christ’s cross becomes the clearest action of God’s love. God demonstrates love while sinners are still sinners, like a firefighter running into the burning building without stopping to ask whether the person inside deserves rescue. Christ became poor to make others rich, entering human life without comfort, status, spouse, house, electricity, fairness, or safety. Jesus knows rejection, loneliness, hatred, misunderstanding, poverty, false charges, and death from the inside.

God’s words also tell his care. John says God so loved the world, and Jesus says his sheep hear his voice, he knows them, and he gives them eternal life. First John says the Father lavishes love by calling his people children of God. Jeremiah and Isaiah say his love is everlasting, his promises of peace will stand, and mountains may crumble before his love ends.

The future completes the answer. God gave his Son, so he will also give all things, though not every ache is healed in this life. The resurrection of Christ anchors the promise that God’s kingdom will come, evil will be abolished, tears will end, and no eye has seen what God has prepared. The greatest threat is not what God has failed to say or do, but what the soul has forgotten he already said and did.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s care must be registered God gives good gifts constantly, but unrecognized gifts do not sink down into the soul. Thinking and thanking train the heart to notice that life is not being held together by accident. Gratitude is not God demanding applause, but God teaching wounded people how to feel the care that is already present. [53:22]
• 2. Christ entered the poorest place Jesus did not love humanity from a safe distance. Christ took on the kind of life that knew rejection, loneliness, poverty, conflict, false accusation, and public shame. God’s compassion is not theoretical, because the Son stepped into the hard places human beings fear most. [59:45]
• 3. The cross wins suspicious hearts The injured soul can act like a trapped animal, hissing at the very hand that wants to set it free. God’s will can feel threatening when a forbidden pleasure looks necessary for happiness. The cross patiently says that God is not trying to steal life, but to rescue it from the fence it is caught in. [75:19]
• 4. Eternal life answers deepest hunger A perfect 120 years would still not satisfy the deepest longing of the soul. Human desire reaches past a good run and aches for a world with no tears, no evil, no sickness, and no death. Christ’s resurrection makes that future more than wishful thinking, and God calls his people to count on it like money already in the bank. [66:10]
• 5. Forgetting robs the soul God’s words and deeds are already saying, loudly and repeatedly, that his love is loyal and his presence will not leave. The soul often suffers because it fails to remember what God has already shown and promised. Remembrance becomes spiritual survival, not nostalgia, because remembered truth changes the inner condition of the heart. [77:20]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [36:25] - Does God Really Care?
• [40:58] - Psalm 103 and Forgetting God’s Gifts
• [42:41] - Forgiveness, Healing, and Rescue From the Pit
• [49:19] - God’s Actions Show His Care
• [51:39] - Thinking and Thanking
• [54:22] - Christ Died While Sinners Still Sinned
• [56:56] - Jesus Became Poor to Make Others Rich
• [61:17] - God Will Give All Things
• [63:39] - The Resurrection and Future Promises
• [67:55] - God’s Words Tell His Love
• [72:25] - Everlasting Love That Does Not Fail
• [76:13] - Remember What God Has Said and Done
• [78:30] - What God Has Prepared for Those Who Love Him

Bible Reading

Psalm 103:1-5, 8, 11-13
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” [40:58]

Romans 5:8
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [54:22]

2 Corinthians 8:9
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” [56:56]

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” [01:07:55]

1 John 3:1
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” [01:07:55]

Jeremiah 31:3
“the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” [01:12:25]

Isaiah 54:10
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” [01:12:25]

1 Corinthians 2:9
“But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'—” [01:18:30]

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 103, what specific benefits does David tell his soul not to forget, and what do those benefits show about the kind of care God gives? [42:41]
2. What pictures or comparisons are used in Psalm 103 to describe God’s love, forgiveness, and compassion?
3. According to Romans 5:8 and 2 Corinthians 8:9, what did Christ do, and when did he do it for us? [56:56]
4. In John 3:16, 1 John 3:1, Jeremiah 31:3, and Isaiah 54:10, what words or phrases show that God’s love is personal, lasting, and secure? [01:12:25]

Interpretation questions

1. Psalm 103 begins with a command to the soul not to forget God’s benefits. What does that suggest about the connection between spiritual forgetfulness and feeling uncared for? [01:17:20]
2. If God’s love was shown “while we were still sinners,” what does that mean for a person who feels ashamed, unworthy, or hard to love? [54:22]
3. Jesus “became poor” for others. How does Christ’s ordinary human suffering help answer the question of whether God understands fear, rejection, loneliness, or weakness? [59:45]
4. God promises eternal life and a future beyond anything the heart can imagine. How does that shape the meaning of “God will also give all things,” especially when many pains are not removed in this life? [01:03:39]

Application questions

1. Where is forgetfulness showing up most in life right now? Is it in daily gifts being overlooked, in old guilt being replayed, or in promises of God being pushed to the side? What would it look like to remember on purpose this week? [01:16:58]
2. What are some good gifts that have been received lately but barely noticed—strength to get through a day, a meal, sleep, healing, protection, a kind word, a working body, a friend? How might naming those gifts before God begin to change the heart? [53:22]
3. Is there a place where the soul has started to believe that God cares only in a general way, but not in a deeply personal way? What part of life most needs to hear that God knows and cares specifically? [39:33]
4. Jesus knows rejection, unfair treatment, loneliness, and hardship from the inside. Which part of Christ’s life feels especially important right now, and why? [01:00:25]
5. The cross shows that God is not trying to steal life, but rescue it. Is there an area of obedience that still feels threatening or restrictive? What makes trusting God there difficult? [01:15:19]
6. God’s love is described as everlasting, and his covenant of peace as unshakable. When human love has felt unreliable, how hard is it to receive that kind of love from God? What helps that truth sink in? [01:15:32]
7. A perfect 120 years would still not be enough for the deepest hunger of the soul. How often does the heart really live with the future kingdom in view? What might change this week if eternal life were counted on like money already in the bank? [01:06:10]