Does God Let People Starve?

If God loves us, why are people starving in the world? This question is commonly posed as a rebuttal to the idea that God is good and loves us. I must admit that this is tough question at first. It certainly seems to contradict the idea of an all-powerful, loving God. However, I think that, as with most moral objections to God, this is a classic case of projection. Let’s break it down and take a look at this question from a few different perspectives.

God Supplies All Of The Food On The Planet

Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:29-30

Every living creature will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.

Genesis 9:3

If God has given humanity all of the vegetables, fruits, and animals for consumption, hasn’t He already fed all of us? It is humanity that chooses to store food away from one another. If we would listen to God’s directives, there wouldn’t be a single hungry person on the planet.

God Has Given Us The Responsibility To Care For One Another

For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

And answering, he was saying to them, “The one having two tunics, let him impart to the one having none; and the one having food, let him do likewise.”

Luke 3:11

There are many more verses like this, but I think we get the point. We are to share our resources with one another. It is humanity that refuses to take care of one another. We have drawn imaginary lines around our countries, states, towns, and even our families and we care less about people on the other side of each boundary.

Globally, we produce enough food to feed 1.5 times our entire population. In other words, we have enough food to feed far more people than are on our planet, but if those people live in a different country and are in poverty then we are far less likely to assist them. Additionally, in many countries, people that work in the food industry do not make enough money to really afford the food that they need.

We Are Incredibly Wasteful

On top of the fact that we hoard food to ourselves, we also waste enormous amounts of food. The average American discards a pound of food per day. That is one pound of food per person, per day, or 300,000,000 pounds of food. Imagine if we were to focus on reducing food waste by utilizing efficient donation processes.

Grocery stores in America choose not to donate food due to unclear regulation about what foods can and cannot be donated. This seems like a fairly simple issue that can be overcome by simply working with food shelters nationwide.

God Has Promised To Bless Those Who Help The Needy

Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

Proverbs 19:17

While we obviously should not expect a repayment for merely doing the right thing, our charity will not go unnoticed. Even if you do not enjoy the idea of giving, we all enjoy having clean, safe streets. Working to feed those in need can help make that a reality. It is certainly easy to help out as well. There are many resources that we can consult to determine where help is needed. Here are a couple for your reference.

Find a food pantry: https://ampleharvest.org/find-pantry/

Find a food bank: https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

References:

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0465-1
• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/world-hunger_b_1463429
• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/18/americans-waste-food-fruit-vegetables-study
• https://thecounter.org/harvard-food-safety-code-report-grocery-store-waste-donations/
• https://www.flashfood.com/blog/why-grocery-stores-dont-donate