Monday, December 17, 2012

Where was God?


We will not soon forget the horrific events of December 14, 2012.  What started out as a typical day ended anything but typical for the residents of Newton, CT and the world.   I have no personal connection to any of the families who have been ripped apart nor can I even begin to imagine the depth of their grief.  I only know my heart and throat felt like someone was strangling me as I went to bed that night.  My grief became my enemy when trying to breathe and my mind raced trying to make sense of how anyone could do this horrible act against innocent children and those who tried to protect them.

Earlier that evening this question was posed, “Where was God?”  Even Jesus voiced this question of his father, God.   I’ve thought a lot about that question today.  I didn’t know what to say.  How would you have answered?  If you were one of those parents, would you have wanted a pat cliché answer?   Is there an answer?

Theological reasoning’s to this question have been explored and debated for centuries.  This debate does not however mean God was absent. 

I do know this; God was in the same place when his son was murdered.  He knows what it is to grieve over a loved one.  To give and love and be denied those in return.  He finds no pleasure in witnessing the indescribable acts his creation does to one another.  Nor does he find pleasure in letting go of someone who chooses to reject him.[i]  He has long been denied a place in our lives except when it is beneficial to us.  Nor, as has been suggested, did the gate for these indescribable acts swing open the day prayer was taken out of school.  The groundwork was laid long before then and has been built upon as our tolerance to truth and violence weakens. 

It strikes me no one is questioning the ‘where and why’ of evil (aka Satan) that day?  Satan is not a harmless once-a-year-Halloween-appearance person wearing a red suit with horns and a pitchfork.  He is a force who knows his time is limited and will steal, kill, and destroy anything or anyone who stands in his way including innocent children. [ii]  

Everything in life is not a clear black and white issue nor are the answers to life’s difficult questions.  Gun control is not be the solution in preventing these types of horrendous acts because morality and values cannot be legislated.  Those bent on destruction will find a avenue to accomplish it.
Being a child of God does not relieve us of pain.  We live in a world in which our actions affect others, good and bad.  But these are truths we can hold onto when everything else, including God, doesn’t make sense:

·         God is still God and there is no other equal to him or above him.  We can trust him even though we don’t understand.  Isaiah 40; 2 Peter 3:9; Isaiah 55:8-9
·         He hasn’t abandoned you or me:  “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.”  John 14:18; 2 Chronicles 16:9
·         We can have His peace in the midst of pain:  “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.  So don’t be troubled or afraid…I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 14:27; John 16:33)

Where was God that day?  Grieving alongside those whose hearts were ripped out.  Holding and giving them his strength to continue until he takes us to a home where there will be no more sorry, pain or hurt…ever again.







[i] Ezekiel 33:11
[ii] 2 Corinthians 11:14-15; John 10:10

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