Does God ever deprive his children? - Deprivation - TouchPoints

Deuteronomy 2:7“For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”

Nehemiah 9:21For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!

Psalm 4:7You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.

Psalm 31:19How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

Psalm 34:10Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

Psalm 84:11The Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.

Proverbs 10:6The godly are showered with blessings; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

Proverbs 13:21Trouble chases sinners, while blessings reward the righteous.

Isaiah 45:3“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.”

Jeremiah 29:11“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Matthew 6:33“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

John 16:24“Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

Acts 2:28“‘You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’”

2 Corinthians 9:10God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

God blesses his children with what he knows we should have, rather than what we think we must have. When we are feeling deprived, we must first ask what we are being deprived of. Rarely does this deprivation come from God, but rather from our own distorted perspective of what we think we need.

Deuteronomy 28:2“You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 30:19“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

Jeremiah 5:25Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.

Jeremiah 6:19“Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.”

Jeremiah 15:7“I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities and take away the children you hold dear. I will destroy my own people, because they refuse to change their evil ways.”

Jeremiah 25:8-12“And now the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me, I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. . . . I will take away your happy singing and laughter.”

Jeremiah 26:3“Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will change my mind about the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.”

Jeremiah 44:20-25It was because the Lord could no longer bear all the disgusting things you were doing that he made your land an object of cursing—a desolate ruin without inhabitants—as it is today. All these terrible things happened to you because you have burned incense to idols and sinned against the Lord. You have refused to obey him and have not followed his instructions, his decrees, and his laws.

Ezekiel 12:16, 19“But I will spare a few of them from death by war, famine, or disease, so they can confess all their detestable sins to their captors. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Haggai 1:8-12“You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops.”

Haggai 2:17“I sent blight and mildew and hail to destroy everything you worked so hard to produce. Even so, you refused to return to me, says the Lord.”

God may deprive us in order to discipline us and bring us to repentance and restored fellowship with him. God’s motive in depriving us is not to express his anger; it is to draw us closer to him. For some of us, the only way we will reach out to God is if we have nothing else in our hands.

Job 1:8-11, 20-22Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. . . . But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” . . . Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job 2:10“Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

Job 42:1-5, 12-17So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.

Matthew 25:29“To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

God may deprive us to test our faith. Deprivation can prove, strengthen, and deepen our relationship with God. How we respond to deprivation can be a powerful witness to a watching world.