Apr. 17: Why, Lord, Why?

Today we mourn for, and with, the families of those young students at Virginia Tech University whose lives were taken yesterday. Massacre. Intentional. Senseless. We can only imagine, and even then our imaginings do not come close to, what these families must be thinking, feeling and enduring.

Onlookers search for answers to the questions of, “Who?” and “Why?” and “How?”. Fingers are pointed at security officers and officials, and Prime Ministers from other countries not only offer their condolences but take this as an opportunity to explain why their country is better than our country because of their strict gun control…as all of this unfolds there are those who ask “How could God allow something like this to happen?”

This just reinforces what the Bible teaches: sin has entered our world. While each person was made in the image of God and has a spark of the Divine, people also have the capacity to be mean, selfish and destructive to varying degrees. Because every one of us has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Sinful people do hurtful and sometimes horrific deeds. We continue to face daily the consequences of living in a fallen world.

In the days to come answers will be found, speculations will continue, hypotheses will be put forth; and all of that will be of little or no comfort to those who have been touched personally and permanently by this unspeakably horrible act that the word “tragedy” doesn’t even come close to describing. There will also come from this incident stories from people of faith who tell of, and demonstrate, the strength of God.

This event will cause some people to draw closer to God than they have ever been and others will be so filled with anger and bitterness that they will pull away from God. The questions may never get answered and life will never get back to “normal”. God is at work in the midst of all the agony; seeking to comfort and console and heal. “Draw close to God and he will come near to you…Grieve, mourn and wail…your laughter to will change to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:8-10)

~ Father, we don’t understand why some things happen. We pray for the families who have been touched by the violence in Blacksburg. Father, draw them close and comfort them as only you can. Amen.