Why Have Africans Suffered So Much?

[Music] well does god detest africa it's a stark question and it comes to us from inside the continent pastor john hello my name is jason from kampala the capital city of uganda first thank you for your continued ministry it has been a huge blessing in my life my question is this does god care for africans providence has a long track record here throughout history we have been a beastly deplorable enslavable race constantly riddled with disease famine and suffering how are we not to conclude that we are god's least favorite race every day is pure struggle for most ugandans i know god promises to look after all people but it still makes me wonder why does he especially seem to hate africa so much i feel a special urgency about this question it would it would be an easy question for us to ignore but the reason i feel a special urgency is not only because it comes with such heartfelt painful earnestness about jason's own experience and his love for his people in uganda not to mention the whole of africa but also because i wrote a big book on providence so i feel indebted to give some accounting for his statement providence has a long track record here yeah meaning god's providence has been hard on the continent of africa none of us can just blithely say that we believe in the all-wise all-embracing all-pervasive all-sovereign providence of god and then just walk away from such questions yeah that won't do it just won't do so i have four observations that i have prayed over and thought about to suggest that i hope will shed some light on jason's question his mind as he wrestles with this question there in uganda he asked quote how can we not conclude that we are god's least favorite race what an explosive question he's not just talking about the continent of africa he's talking about blackness it's national it's geographic it's racial what is god's providence in relation to these that's his heart agonizing question i doubt that he's alone in it first so these four observations first i would make the absolutely crucial biblical observation that all human beings everywhere in the world at all times in all history are fallen sinful and to use the words of ephesians 2 sons of disobedience and quote by nature children of wrath or as romans 5 12 says sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all because all sinned now in calling all human beings of every race every nationality every age every sex every ethnicity in calling all human beings children of wrath the bible is teaching that every day every day not spent in hell under god's full wrath is a reprieve whatever else it is by way of hardship in this world it is a reprieve full judgment on us from god for our sin is being postponed as long as we are alive none of us deserves to live in the presence of god before god in relation to god and therefore none of us deserves to live well before god in relation to god nobody anywhere in the world no matter what their hardship is being wronged by the just and all holy god and and if we think for example that the massive infant mortality rate around the world for thousands of years is an indictment of god's justice it isn't because death is a judgment on communities and families as well as individuals and all of the non-accountable infants enter into glory now in view of that universal sinfulness with all human beings being under god's just condemnation which this is a question which is the most disadvantageous condition for such condemned people to live in lives of ease as they move toward the lake of fire in the prosperous west or lives of hardship as they move toward the lake of fire elsewhere which condition is designed as possibly most effective in awakening people to their need for mercy and salvation some nations live in comfort and prosperity while turning away from god other nations live with hardship and poverty while turning away from god and the bible teaches that both have a design that can lead to repentance romans 2 4 speaks of kindness god's kindness leading people to repentance and revelation 16 11 speaks of pain and disease leading people to repentance shall we say that one of those designs is hateful hateful or should we not rather wherever we live under whatever hardship or comfort see the hand of god beckoning us to turn to him that's my first observation my second observation therefore is that i do not know whether africa all things considered has been favored less than say india or the south sea islands or the native peoples of north and south america or the germanic hordes of europe all those thousands and thousands of years or any other place i don't know when paul says in acts 14 6-17 in past generations god allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways yet he did not leave himself without a witness for he did good by giving you reigns from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with good and gladness close quote i don't know if for thousands of years that was less true of africa than those other places and peoples that's my second observation i don't know it's not obvious to me third observation god simply does not treat all individuals the same nor does he treat all families the same nor does he treat all tribes the same nor does he treat all nations the same on all continents the same nor does he treat all races the same it is absolutely baffling from a human standpoint to try to figure out why one family seems to undergo hardship after hardship after hardship while another family perhaps totally unbelieving and irreligious scarcely has any adversity at all i've had a dad say to me face to face after his baby died are we under a curse pastor john because this had been about the third tragedy in a row within just a few years i've seen it over and over again in our church and beyond the wicked prosper the righteous suffer there's nothing even close to equal distribution of sorrow in this world and the lesson is this god's ways of accomplishing his wise and just and merciful purposes are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts and we better not look at such inequities and infer quickly that we know what god is doing because we almost certainly don't at least not in any detail how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways romans 11 33 just when you think you know what providence is doing by way of judgment and mercy it can be dramatically reversed in a split second and we are thrown back again and again on utter reliance upon god which is one of his main designs as paul said in second corinthians 1 8-9 here's my last observation peter says in his second letter do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the lord one day it says a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day second peter 3 8. now he said that to help us understand god's purposes in delaying the second coming and my point here is this though the times of darkness may seem long [Music] perhaps today the hour of africa has come in the last century that's one tenth of one of those thousand year days the christian population of africa has grown from 10 million christians at the beginning of the 20th century about 10 percent of the population to close to 500 million today professing believers one scholar observes quote this past sunday more anglicans attended church in each of kenya south africa tanzania uganda then did anglicans in britain canada and episcopalians in the united states combine wow kenya has more people in christian churches on sunday than all of canada last sunday more presbyterians were in church in ghana than in scotland we're talking presbyterians because it was born in scotland more presbyterians in in church in ghana than in scotland now here's the point just when we thought we had god's providence figured out and that he was say partial to the west he dramatically reverses course and causes his church in the global south to explode at the beginning of the 20th century 71 of professing christians in the world lived in europe by the end of the 20th century that number had shrunk from 71 to 28 43 of the christians in the world now live in latin america and africa from that standpoint one might be tempted to ask does god hate europe now i don't think that's a good question to ask i hope what i've shown here is that providence is not so easily read and his work of salvation is not yet complete the brush strokes on the canvas of world history will not be plain until the masterpiece is finished beautiful global perspective on god's grace and the canvas of world history thank you pastor john and thank you for the question jason in uganda we appreciate it thanks for joining us today you can ask a question of your own you can search our growing archive or subscribe to the podcast do all of that at desiringgod.org forward slash ask pastor john well if anyone is in christ he is a new creation paul says that in 2nd corinthians 5 7 it's an amazing statement in christ we participate in the new creation right now we are new creatures we are regenerated we have been born a second time my inner man has been raised from the dead by the spirit of christ himself so my sins are forgiven i've been crucified with christ it is no longer i who live but christ who lives within me galatians 2 20. there are so many glorious pictures of the christian life and yet in spite of all these life-transforming realities we still sin we're still being duped by the world the devil our own remaining sinfulness within so how do we reckon with our sinful failures as redeemed christians that's up next time i'm your host tony reinke we'll see you back here on wednesday for that see you then you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 168,792

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Ask Pastor John, APJ, Africa, Africans, Suffer, Hate, Wrath, Disease, Sickness, Death, The Sovereignty of God, Global Missions

Id: -OAwzEPbCZE

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Mon May 10 2021