Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)
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.
These are hard times. Harder than we ever imagined possible. People are angry. So angry. There is division. There is ugliness. There is evil. And now this. How do we even begin to heal from something so tragic and devastating? How do we move on?
We’ve been through this before. Oklahoma City, 1995. 9/11 in 2001. Columbine, 1999. Newtown, 2012. Lafayette, 2015.
Each time it happens we search for answers. For clues into what happened. But we know the answer. The shooter was evil. He may have hid it well from those around him. But he was evil.
Evil is the absence of God. It is absolute darkness. It is complete and total separation from God.
Evil contradicts the absolute holiness of God.
But these hard times also shine a light on profound goodness and mercy and grace. There are so many stories of ordinary people leaning on each other, rescuing each other, protecting each other. Heroes like Carly Krygier who used her body to shield her daughter, or Sonny Melton, the husband who died while he lay on top of his wife protecting her from onslaught of bullets that were randomly murdering so many innocent lives. Strangers helped strangers. People who earlier sang God Bless America in beautiful harmony had to work together to save precious lives. Just do an online search for heroes of Las Vegas, and try not to cry. Here are just two articles I found online. From
USA Today and this one from
CNN.
These are the people we need to focus on now. Because they renew our hope for our country. And our faith in our neighbors.
Several years ago, in my hometown, a young child was tragically killed in a skiing accident. Our entire community was devastated at the senseless loss of life. It didn’t make sense that this sweet child was happy and playing one moment, and taken from this earth the next. We struggled for answers. We prayed. We wept with her parents. At her funeral, the choir sang this anthem, “When Answers Aren’t Enough”. The refrain often comes to me whenever tragedy strikes.
When Answers Aren’t Enough
You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome
And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through
But this time the sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won’t do
When answers aren’t enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren’t enough, He is there
Instead of asking why did it happen
Think of where it can lead you from here
And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason
To live your life triumphant through the tears
*Written by Greg Nelson, Scott Wesley Brown • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol Christian Music Group
Psalm 23:1-4 (KJV)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Peace,
Andy
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There are times when answers weren’t enough but I held on. I’m holding on, and praying and hoping and trying to do my best to help make this world a better place for me and for my fellow men <3 May God be with us.
I think as humans this is our hardest challenge. Just accepting that we may not know all the answers.
God bless.
It is so hard to get our heads around how someone could be so evil. We will never know why some things happen. It all goes back to having a strong faith in God and letting him handle it. It is way out of our control and all we can do is comfort those around us.
You’re right, sometimes there are just not answers. But God’s love is mighty. His love for us is so strong that He allows us choice. He even loved (loves?) the man who did such an evil act. But this man’s evil act broke His heart, just like it breaks ours. This world is not our home. Sometimes I feel very homesick…
So many times when there’s a tragedy like this, you’re right, there are no words that we can say to make it better. But there’s Jesus. There’s Hope, There’s a chance to come together, there’s a chance to drop our defenses and have some unity. I pray that we can have that through this tragedy, that the good of loving Thy Neighbor can come from it.
When tragedy strikes, our hearts are broken. Let’s hope and pray for a better world.
I love how CS Lewis addresses this at the end of Til We Have Faces. The answer will never satisfy the way God can.
I just read another blog post on a similar topic, and it’s unfortunately true. We are living in evil times and just never know when the next incident will strike, or where, or who will be the target. As this other blogger’s post discussed, and is applicable here, we just need to be ready. Prepare our hearts and our minds, and then pray without ceasing against the forces of darkness enveloping our world.