As Surely As I Can Feed the Birds "Just not you Venezuela, North Korea or China

Indeed the Lord deals with individuals, as well with nations and blood lines.  The Lord saw fit to firstly send the Flood, then eliminate certain whole groups of people.  Men, women, children, livestock, et all.

Curses against individual actions lasting for generations, and curses against nations also continue, IMHO.  With the wide variety of "false gods" that people worship, I have no problem typifying the poverty and squalor that some nations are engaged in.

Can I say or identify certain nations are cursed of God? Maybe not, but whether it involved ancient cultures and societies, then why not today.  Were not Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other three cities in the plain utterly destroyed by God?!

Suffice to say that Hell will be filled with "good" people, but not righteous people.  We all being in the same family of man and we making the determination of who is good and who isn't doesn't mean that follows after God's righteousness!

Though nations and individuals suffer, those that belong to the Lord will surely be raised on that day!  This is a determination that only God can make.  Didn't Job teach us not to presume all that suffer are evil, and those that don't suffer are good?!  Even just as Solomon touched upon also.

Who can know His thoughts and ways???  We are truly fortunate to live in the age of Grace.  But God help those when this age of Grace ends.  To this end, we shall all be judged by God.

And is also why I can summarily reject a lot of popular teaching permeating within he Church.  I don't know if I am right or wrong in so doing, but am certain of one thing.

I shall never demand anything from the Lord! I refuse to waive my Bible into God's face and tell Him His business.  Deserving nothing, yet grateful for what is given!  I approach the throne of God humbly beseeching Christ's tender mercies, not arrogantly claiming that the Lord owes me anything! :prayer-hands:

It is with fear and trembling the prophets of old approached God. Many today seem to have lost that approach.  Rest assured however, should the Spirit plant a word or a promise of scripture into my spirit, I will fully appropriate it with all the faith I possess!

TR

As long as there is a devil and demons that roam free, there will be heartache, trials and tribulations in this world.  In this life we are being tested but as Christians we have Jesus to cling to and his promises in his Word.  The unsaved though don’t have that.

This is a promise for believers only:
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."  “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles."

However, keep in mind God will not answer the prayers of the believers if they are living in unrepentant sin or fail to forgive others. Matthew 6:12, 14-15 makes it plain that even a Christian’s prayer may not be heard as Jesus testifies by saying that we are to “…forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Therefore, a believer that is living in sin or fails to forgive others has their prayers blocked since they are out of fellowship with the Father. They will never lose their relationships but continual sin can affect their fellowship.  God will never answer the prayer of a Christian while they are regarding sin in their heart (Psalm 66:18).

For the unsaved ....the Bible clearly says that God will not answer prayer requests of those who are not saved nor will He even listen to their prayers (John 9:31). “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."Proverbs 1:26-29 speaks to everyone who does not believe in Him and gives a warning for those who don’t that “…when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD."

I feel for those who are living in harsh environments and suffering greatly from the greed and evil of their appointed leaders ... whether its China, Venezuela, North Korea, the Middle East, etc.  I believe though if a Christian is living in those countries and if they are praying for food, the Lord is providing and perhaps using the birds to drop food down to feed them or raining down manna or has an angel administering to them.  We don’t know the miracles that are happening behind the scenes.  Those who are tortured and martyred for their faith, I look at it this way ... it was the Lord’s will for their life to end and they will be rewarded greatly with a martyred’s crown and will hear the words “well done thy good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord”.

I believe our trials and how we react to them determine what job duties we will be assigned to in the next life.

It is something that I have wondered about in the past, also Boulder. But I finally came to realize that God deals with everyone in a different way and everyone has a different level of faith or endurance for each circumstance. I live in the richest country on earth so it is not possible for me to relate to the experiences people deal with in places like N. Korea or Venezuela or elsewhere. They have always known difficulties compared to what I have known so I can only imagine that God has given those He chooses a higher level of faith. As TR alluded, it is not for me to demand that God explain His business to me. I have to rest knowing that He is more loving and compassionate than I can ever imagine and trust that He is in control and knows what He is doing. Things we see as awful have purposes that we cannot know. But God sees all things and knows all ends. This is the very same God who allowed His own Son to suffer inexplicably for us and yet Jesus knew the joy that His own suffering would bring.

False gods, rebellion, unbelief and as Geri7 rightly points out, the Lord has and does decide who prayers He will answer, and who's He won't.

As He as often has done with Israel.  Speaking of Israel the nation that God created and loves, have and will suffer many things.  (Holocaust).  Let alone the sins of the Church!

And the Lord has specifically taught there are three things necessary to the having of prayers answered.  We cannot pray amiss, we cannot pray without faith, and we cannot pray against the Lord's will!  This holds true for all peoples.  He knows the hearts of men as well as the future.  He even gave Jezebel space and time to repent, she did not.

Though there is are no formulas, these three are minimum requirements,  a very important distinction here!

TR