Perhaps it is one of the hardest questions to answer in the universe. Why does God allow death and destruction to come to innocent people? Take this weekend's deadly tornadoes, for example. Children died! What in the world did those kids do to deserve death in such a violent manner, and worse, how are their parents supposed to cope with such incredible loss? It is not fair. We see "bad" people thriving in society, while other very "good" people have to suffer. How could a God, who is supposed to be so loving, allow such unfair sadness to happen? I am not a Bible scholar, so I don't have a satisfactory answer to that question. Perhaps, nobody does. I know it says in Genesis that because of sin, man will be plagued with hardships and heartaches. But that still doesn't seem right.
This is where the most critical aspect of our Christian life must kick in: faith. No, these things don't seem fair, and it can feel like either there is no God, or He is just not interested in helping us. But we are promised in so many places in God's Word that he is with us and that He does love us more than we could ever imagine. I know it does not always feel like that, but we must continue to believe it and have faith that God has a purpose for everything that happens, even things that are unthinkable. The Bible promises us that God will come to us in our darkest moments. Like you, I have suffered a few tragedies in my life. And I will be the first to admit that trying to stay focused on God during those times can be very difficult. But don't allow Satan to steal from your heart what you truly believe and know deep down in your heart. God cares, and He is with us, maybe even carrying us at this very minute. Pray for God to increase your faith. After all, the Bible reminds us that we can not please Him without it.
Ephesians 6:16 says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked."
Father, please forgive us when we question you in times of tragedy. You did not make us robots. You gave us feelings. And sometimes those feelings overcome our brains. Help us to keep faith in You. In Jesus name, Amen.
When tragedy happens so suddenly it leaves us bewildered, angry, confused and upset....it is only in the aftermath can we see any signs of hope. Tragedies have happened to all of us in some form or fashion..its hard to get through.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 41:10 Fear thou not;for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;yea,I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness
Karen
Hi Al,
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you post on this. We sometimes forget these things when we're praising God for doing anything we ask for (even air-con).
We could (and probably should) pause a moment before we start making God sound like a super-dependable vending machine. In that moment we could think how our boasting might sound to the parent who prayed their child would be safe from the tornado, or the couple who have prayed for children but suffered a miscarriage.
Like you, i can't fully understand why these things happen. But for people hurt by these seemingly random events, we can at least avoid giving them the impression that God couldn't save their child because he was too busy sorting out my air-con (or getting me a parking space, or a job interview, or a win for my football team, or whatever else i prayed for and got).
I guess as good people, even though things happen the way they do , we have to perservere, personally ,Ive become numb to it and just get up lick my wounds and go on because the sun will rise and set again tomorrow as it did yesterday.Time and experience gives us the right and privelege to be that way.
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