Different View of Favor

 The purpose of this is to maybe set askew the common thought that God's favor somehow implies ease in life.

 Starting off early, we have Noah. Honestly, if i witnessed what he witnessed, i'd have preferred to have been swept away by the waters. All his friends and neighbors, extended family, everyone; wailing and screaming in fear as the first few drops began to fall after the doors of the boat were supernaturally closed. The cries would've grown louder as the rain grew heavier; as the earth itself split to release the firmament from below, the shrieks of men, women, and children would've faded into the roar of water crashing against the sides of the ark. It's hardly a wonder one of the first things he did (after setting up an altar to God) was begin fermenting beverages.
 Next would be Jacob, ever-shadowed by his elder brother, the hunter-gatherer, Esau. His mother, nigh as deceitful as himself, devised a plan to get Jacob the birthright. But what good is a birthright if he leaves his home? He works for his uncle for the better part of a decade, only to get the wrong girl, and then another seven years he labors for the girl he truly wanted--and her womb was closed up. Leah bore him child after child, and yet Rachel, his love, is left without child for decades. She became desperate (as did Jacob) and, after Leah had stopped bearing children, offered Jacob her slave-girl, Bilhah. He bore two sons through her. And Leah then offered her own slave-girl, Zilpah, who then bore two more sons. Eventually, Rachel is able to conceive, and her son is named Joseph, who is betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, leaving Jacob to mourn his faked-death. Joseph, the favorite of Jacob, eventually led the Hebrews into Egypt.
 Next comes Moses, that one fellow who was abandoned as a child, raised by those who oppressed his family, flees, marries a woman of another land (and is ridiculed for it), and mocked by his adopted brother.
 Job, the besieged, is chosen to be the target of Satan because God saw him to be a faithful man. God favored him, therefore torment was everywhere in this man's life as Satan wreaked havoc in all the authority that God allowed him to have over Job; wealth, possessions, family, health, everything. Boils upon boils, resulting an insatiable itch covering the entirety of his body that would've felt as an acidic burn if he'd tried to scratch. This man was favored by God. This distraught, helpless, poor man sitting in the ashes of his life.
 Ezekiel's wife dies, and he's commanded not to mourn or weep for her.
 David is hunted by his king like an animal.
 The author of Lamentations, presumably Jeremiah, describes his skin having sloughed off, his bones broken, his teeth shattered by gravel; he speaks of children fainting in the streets, begging for something to drink, dying in the arms of their mothers ("gasping out their last breath in their mother's bosom"); "the children I held in my arms and raised, my enemy has destroyed," he says. If there is a more tragic sight (other than that of a Father watching His only begotten Son, blameless and holy, beaten and tortured, naked and nailed to an execution stake like a criminal) i'd rather not know of it.
 Paul is described as not knowing what he would suffer for Christ's sake, and yet was one we would call favored.
 The greatest affliction, that of Christ on the cross (dubbed his "being glorified"), dripping with the sin of the world; this Man, the only begotten Son of God. Hardly an image of favor. Or is it?

 In all these examples, it would seem the greater the suffering, the greater the favor God has for the object of affliction. We are told in Romans 5 that tribulations bring...hope.
 God promises to withhold no good thing from those He favors, and that all things work out for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Some examples of good things are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control; what of these do not come about except through some sort of suffering? 1 Corinthians 13 says love is, first and foremost, long-suffering; that, if we love, we will suffer long for it. Understanding of joy does not come unless one knows misery. Peace does not come without war; patience without situations that would call for great unrest; kindness without circumstances where one has been treated cruelly; all of these qualities require a grasp of their antonym, an understanding of their absence.
 And God will withhold no good thing from those He favors. Those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose are guaranteed scenarios in which these fruits of the Spirit will have the fertile, volcanic soil where they may blossom and grow (intense struggles). He also promises that, through perseverance, these fruits will set.
 Without rain, there is no harvest. Without trial, no judgement--or mercy.
 He will not leave His favored ones without struggle, or else they would bear no Spiritual fruit.

How He Loves His Children

 Want to hear an unpopular opinion?
 God doesn't love everyone.

 Before claiming i'm some sort of heretic that has no place making such a claim when the Bible clearly states that, "God is love," (1 John 4:8) please hear me out. What better place can we learn of God's characteristics than in the Bible? And when i look at the Bible, i see a doting Father, a caring Provider, and a loving Friend. He is those things. I also see a very jealous and wrathful God. For instance, i see Him ordering the Levites to draw their swords against the rest of Israel, mercilessly and violently killing their own brothers and friends (Exodus 32).
 He is jealous, and in His jealousy for His people, He will destroy anything that tries to come between the Church and Himself. A husband may turn to violent rage against the man who seduces and leads astray his wife, perhaps especially so if the other man happened to have once been his best friend. God hates evil and wickedness because it draws us away from Him, but He also hates the wicked who would turn us from Him because He is jealous.

 Psalm 2 starts by telling us that the kings and rulers have set themselves up against God's people. God's response isn't, "I love these wicked kings and will have compassion for them, and I shall make a covenant with them to prosper them." No, it actually says, instead, "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision."

 Let me open this one up real quick; "He who sits in the heavens (God) laughs..."
 God sees them plotting against His people, and it entertains Him not because His people are being attacked, but because the nations rage and the people "...plot in vain." He sees them planning the destruction of Israel, and it makes Him laugh. He sees it, and gets a kick out of the fact that they plot in vain. Knowing their plans and efforts have already failed, He laughs.
 "... the Lord holds them in derision."
 Here's the first definition of derision: "contemptuous ridicule or mockery." God is contemptuous of them. He mocks these people. With contempt. He points His finger and snickers, saying, basically, "You're losing." And, again, this actually somewhat entertains God to know that those who would corrupt His people have failed miserably and pathetically.
 This isn't love towards these rulers and kings, so how do we justify God being love if He is the same God in the Old and New Covenants? Because He loves His people, that's how that question resolves. He doesn't want anyone to die (Ezekiel 18), but He is particular towards Israel.

"The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." (Psalm 5:5-6)

Here we have the statement that God hates all evildoers, and He abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful. Hates is a simple enough word. Sure, we can muddy it up with translations enough to where it means something like "favors less," but really, in this context, it means nothing other than intention of violence. What's more, abhorrence is hard to get lost in translation; it means to regard someone with disgust. I know what it's like to abhor someone quite well; i was embittered and resentful towards someone at one point that seeing them make my stomach turn, my heart rate to spike, my hands to tremble. It was unhealthy, but this is what it means to have abhorred them. And God abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

 He hates. And violently.

 He loved the tribes of Israel. Greatly. They're the ones He chose to be His. But look a little closer, and you'll see that He picked the tribe of Levi out of them. He favored them to the point that He made them His cohanim, His priests. This was His favored tribe (favor implying favoritism). Israel was to be God's favorite country, Levi to be His favorite of the tribes, and Moses specifically to be His favorite Levite.
 He picked David from His brothers because He was a man after God's own heart; a man who, though he might stumble pretty badly, he would try, and he would try, and he would try, because he loved God. God favored David from his brothers.

 It was asked how God loved Israel, and He says, "Is not Esau Jacob's brother? Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated." (Micah 1)
 He distinguished between brothers which He loved and which He hated, and judged not by their father's actions but by theirs. This passage later speaks an entirely resentful view of Esau by God; Esau's country was destroyed and his legacy left to jackals, unclean and scavenging beasts. And should Edom have rebuilt, God says that He would have torn it back down. In fact, God says they are, "the wicked country," and "the people with whom the Lord is angry forever."

 And to really set things off, it would seem that we have a part to play in His disposition towards us.
 The modern Church may shriek at the thought, but our works are what actually define how God sees us, not just our faith. We are justified by faith, yes, but we are glorified by God by our works of faith. As example, i'll use David again; it was his desire to serve God that God saw and picked him for. It was the Levites' willingness to do anything for God that He chose them for. It was Job's faithfulness and devotion that made God say, "Him!" It was Joshua and Caleb's ferocity and reverence that God chose them to lead Israel for. It was Abraham's subjection that God made Him father of nations for. It was Isaiah's fervency in saying, "Here I am, Lord! Send me!" It was Daniel's staying strong in faith by acting on his faith that got him a death sentence--and favor.

 He loves, and His favoritism towards us is dependent on our humility before Him. And it's our works and sacrifices by faith that gain us that favor.
 Not only this, it is our works that make us loved or hated by God. If we are bloodthirsty, deceitful, wicked, evil, He will simply hate us. If we follow His law, obey His commandments, love as Christ loves, forgive, and get over "self," we will be loved by Him.
 He loves all of His children. And we are told by John that those who are not His children, the ones that do not practice righteousness, are children of the devil.

 And here i want to address a more personal matter; some think that, because one holds to these views, i am devoid of joy, or that i'm not as happy as i could be because i'm not seeing the positive side of things.
 One would be hard-pressed to find someone more enthralled with life than myself; i look at things, even tree leaves, pebbles, clouds, insects, animals; these things are beautiful and brilliant, and to think that God could -and by justice should- make my life a living Hell, mutilate me, annihilate me, and cause my life to slowly and painfully wither away, yet He blesses me, and lets me talk to Him, and He listens. How futile are possessions when you have a source of joy such as this! How exuberant this fascination makes me! How giddy am i knowing that the Maker of all things sees me, knows me, cares about me, loves me, calls me His!

Remember, God Made You Special, And He Loves You Very Much!

Times have changed. Socially, and spiritually. We call it progress, but it's really not.

In 1993, twenty years ago this year (that makes me feel so old), Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki produced a children's show called "Veggie-Tales." It was kind of a hit among Christian families, and even to this day I enjoy many of the older episodes. My favorite would probably by Dave And The Giant Pickle, a retelling of David and Goliath. It was about as historically accurate (though dressed up in a couple ways so as to capture children's attention) as the recent "Bible" series that aired on the History Channel. Dave went and got five smooth stones from a brook in the Veggie-Tales episode (which the Bible points that out for a specific reason; an entire book could be devoted to expressing how impressive it was that he took five stones). In the more adult-oriented Bible series, he reaches down into the sand and grabs one. Just one. The children's show from '96 was seriously more accurate in this than the one that was geared for a more mature audience in '12.

The "shalom" at the end of each episode, the farewell, goes "Remember, kids, God made you special, and He loves you very much! Bye!"
If you turn to television evangelists or go to one of these "mega-churches", the basic theme of each sermon will likely (there are many exceptions, but it is growing increasingly common for itching ears to be tickled) be "Remember, adults, God made you special, and He loves you very much!" Yes, they preach more than just that, but it can be summarized in that phrase.
It's true, God did make you special, and He does love you very much. The Bible, summed up, says just that. It's a love story of God and how He cares for you. But what is said in the Word of God that isn't said in these churches is the difference between having peaceful situations and having a peaceful spirit. It is a massive difference.
They preach that nobody will do you wrong, that loved ones won't die, that trials will not come, that everything in life is bunnies and rainbows. Here's a smack-on-the-cheek to that philosophy: Matthew chapter 10. The words of Jesus in that chapter do little for the ideology that only blessings befall those who trust God.
What these preachers (I refrain from calling them pastors because a preacher is a person with a microphone, whereas a pastor is a leader of a flock) say creates a thin faith, a faith based on "God won't let anything bad happen to me." What this does is create the mindset of "If bad things happen, God isn't there."
Instead of this teaching, Paul said to delight in your trials and hardships because they help you in the long run.

I went to a morning and evening Christmas service at a church in another state; it was a fairly large church (goodness, the stained-glass window in front of the room the preacher stepped out of was glorious--one could even describe it as vulgar). Sadly, albeit honestly, cartoons aimed at children that I watched as a kid were as informative as these two services if not moreso.

This is not progress, people.
This is appeasement.
It's offering only appetizers.

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

That's something not mentioned by these preachers; 2 Timothy 4:3-5
Not only does it prophesy that people will only want to hear happy-go-lucky doctrine (which has come to pass in the last couple centuries, but all the more in the past decade), and that they will find preachers who preach such a doctrine, and also that they will turn away from listening to the truth, but get this; it says to "endure suffering."

Why would it say that if there was nothing but "victory," "favor," "blessings," and the like in our future?