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Hello father hope you’re well. My question is We are told not to worry
about food, clothes etc as God knows what we need and provides even for
the birds. Why then is there famine?( not that I’m questioning God)
Answer to Question 370
Your quote from the Gospels is not complete Christ said: Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ...O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
For God to provide everything we need it presupposes that we have first sought the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Who of us has this kind of faith to place ourselves completely in God's hands and trust that he will provide us with whatever we need, which does not necessarily mean an iphone as well.
As for famines and other disasters only man is responsible, but we like to shift the blame on God so that we don’t have to bear the guilt. Famine and poverty are responsible for many deaths, but if the world really cared these could be problems of the past. Many famine stricken countries are suffering as a result of their governments being engaged in war, whether civil or with another country. Governments divert much needed funds from agricultural production to military expenditure leaving the population especially vulnerable to natural disasters such as droughts.
But these issues can be overcome if we from the developed countries send the proper and long term aid. Most of us will give a pound or two or even a fiver to the cause when asked, but at other times we simply forget that our brothers in far away countries are suffering. Did you know that every year government regulations in the US calls for farmers to purposely destroy millions of pounds of fruit, crops and animal livestock to control prices? In the church we pray continually for a good harvest, but what God sends bountifully is rejected as unprofitable.
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