Does God Allow Some Christians To Starve To Death?

Hebrews 11:36-38, “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

Does God allow some of His children to starve to death? Yes, absolutely! If God allowed saints to be eaten by lions, pulled apart of horses (quartered), and sawn into pieces, do you really think that God won't allow them to starve to death? As humans we place the utmost value on this temporary life, but God doesn't! God sees what we don't see. The Lord took away a man's life for sincerely trying to steady the Ark Of The Covenant, to prevent it from toppling over (2nd Samuel 6:7). Why did God kill him? I think the answer is obvious, that no one ought to tamper with the inspired Word of God. God doesn't need man's help to stabilize His Word!!! All of these ungodly scholars and Bible publishers today, who keep printing new Bible revisions left and right, are cursed by God! And so also are Bible colleges like Bob Jones University accursed by God by using, selling and sanctioning the Devil's Bibles.

One of my sincere web visitors recently asked me what the Bible says about God's guarantee of provisions for His children. I kindly replied that there are no Biblical guarantees of God's material provisions. He responded by saying that he disagrees, believing that God does promise to financially provide for Christians. The man cited the following Scripture passage in defense of his position. Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Taken by itself, this Bible verse seems to teach that God will always provide for His children, no matter what. But is that true? One thing that I learned a long time ago in studying the Word of God, is that you NEVER base any doctrine upon only one Bible verse. The correct way to interpret the Bible is to compare Scripture with Scripture. There are many other passages of Scripture which teach us that Christians do suffer, including starving to death.

In the Old Testament, sin caused God to afflict the land with famine. 2nd Samuel 21:1, “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.” King Saul had murdered innocent people, which caused God to afflict Israel with famine. I have no doubt that many people died from the famine. A severe shortage of food always results in sickness, disease and plague caused by malnutrition. Remember, God caused this! 1st Kings 8:37, “If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;”

Likewise, during Elijah's time there was a woeful famine in Israel. 2nd Kings 6:25, “And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.” Eighty (fourscore) pieces of silver in today's value would be about $500! Would you pay $500 for a donkey's head to eat? A “cab” is a dry measure of about 2 quarts. So a fourth of a can is 1 pint. One pint of bird dung cost people about $35 during the famine. You sure would if you were hungry enough! The very thought is gross. Luke 4:25, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;” 

Cannibalism In the Holy Bible

During times of famine, people have historically turned to cannibalism. The following true story makes me angry. This passage teaches us a valuable lesson about how rotten people can be, and the desperate things that evil people are capable of, and how people will take advantage of our vulnerabilities if we let them...

2nd Kings 6:26-30, “And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.”

When you are poor, hurting and hungry, evil people will always take advantage of you if you let them. People will do to you whatever you allow them to get away with! Proverbs 1:10, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” These women were starving in hunger! The one woman was evil for even suggesting to eat their children. She suggested that they eat the other woman's baby first, today, and then eat her baby tomorrow. The first woman lied, deceiving the other woman. There are so many lessons to be learned from this creepy but very realistic Scripture passage:

1. Never agree to do wrong! - Just pre-decide that even if you starve to death, you will never do wrong! Even if the stars fall, I am going to do right. It blows my mind that this woman was so foolish, that she would even consider killing and eating her own child.
2. Always be on guard against people tempting you to do evil - Prisons are filled with people who never would have even thought about committing a heinous crime, but a trusted friend or acquittance of theirs DID suggest it! People often commit crimes in a group that they would never commit alone. Peer pressure can be good or evil. Proverbs 1:10 says if sinners entice thee, consent thou not! You boldly tell them as Jesus told Peter: “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
3. Be careful who you choose for friends or live with - Amnon had a friend. 2nd Samuel 13:3, “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.” Jonadab contrived a wicked plot for Amnon to rape his half-sister, which he did. As a consequence, 2 years later Tamar's brother Absalom murdered Amnon in revenge. Sin always thrills and then it kills. Sin fascinates and then it assassinates. The Devil is a beautiful liar!
4. Evil people will always leave you holding the bag - There is no honor among thieves! Although there is a code of conduct among prison inmates, there is no honor among criminals. If you think you can trust evildoers, you are a fool.
5. Avoid advice from ungodly people - We ought to be leery of any advice from ungodly people. Psalms 1:1 teaches people who want wisdom not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. You ought not take advice from immoral people, or anyone who does not have faith in God.
6. Ungodly people have confused and warped morals - The woman in the preceding story wasn't upset for killing and eating her baby with her roommate, but because the other woman lied and didn't also murder her baby so they could eat it. The betrayed woman didn't care about her child at all. That reminds me of abortionists today! Sadly, convicted murderers in most U.S. states have far more rights in 2020 than human life in the womb. The state of California refuses to execute the Golden State Killer (who brutally raped 51 women and murdered 13 people), while abortion is perfectly legal. God's judgment is looming over America!

Back to the main point, God does allow Christians to starve sometimes. In Philippians 4:19 God promises to supply all of a believer's needs. Paul was encouraging the saints to give to God's work. But this is a general promises, not a guarantee. Likewise, please read James 5:14-15, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” Does God promise to always heal the sick in response to prayer? No, we are taught to pray and trust God. Sometimes people still die, even though we are praying for them. We must always trust God, and never place Him on trial.

Sometimes God's children suffer and lack provisions within God's perfect will. I love those two words in our text Scripture passage from Hebrews 12:36-38... “AND OTHERS.” We often hear health, wealth and prosperity preachers foolishly proclaiming that a Christian who GIVES money to them, will not be able to receive the blessing because it will be so big from God. Such preachers have been proven to be fakes again and again. Some believers think that if we run from God, He might put us in a wheelchair and allow bad things to happen to us. But as we just read, the Bible says a believer may be in GOD'S PERFECT WILL, and still have those horrible things happen to them. John the Baptist was in God's perfect will and lost his head. Likewise, the Apostle James was in God's perfect will, whom Herod beheaded with the sword.

I do not agree with John Piper on Lordship Salvation, but I agree with him in this article which explains why God allows some saints to starve to death. I also found this helpful article. I wouldn't debate the issue, but I believe the Bible is clear that sometimes Christians do go hungry. Sometimes it was because of national sin in the Bible. There is still famine in Africa today. In many places ungodly warlords confiscate food shipments from the United Nations, and the people starve. In India hundreds of millions of people are starving, while piles of wheat rot. The bottom line is that there is no promise in the Holy Bible of God's guarantee for material provisions in this life. God is good, always, but we will not always understand why He does what He does. Nearly all Americans have a distorted view of reality, because we live in a spoiled nation and time of plenty. In many other places in the world today, millions of people are hungry and starving. We Americans are so undeserving of God's goodness and grace.