Tragedy and the Heart of God

Religion

Two questions seem to come up whenever tragedy strikes: Where was God, and If God is good, why does he allow things like this to happen?If you are reading this article on the day I posted it, I am either on the way or have arrived in Lexingon, Kentucky to attend the funeral of Reagen Ethington. Reagen is the 10 year-old daughter of one of my closest friends, Bryon, who moved a couple of years ago to the Lexington area from Blue Ridge with his wife Aly and four children. Just over a week ago, little Reagen was doing just fine but began running a fever. A few days later my friends saw her getting worse and took her to the ER. Within hours they had lost their precious daughter to blood poisoning that entered her heart. Absolutely devastating.

Reagen Ethington (far left) with Dad, Mom and Family, December 2012

When I received the news Saturday morning, I wept for my friends and sat stunned, still in shock over the news of the elementary school shootings in Connecticut. I cannot think of anything more heartbreakingly painful in this life than losing a child.

Two questions seem to come up whenever tragedy strikes: Where was God, and If God is good, why does he allow things like this to happen? These questions are really about God’s heart. Is he really good?

Whenever, I counsel someone who is struggling with this core, important question, I always point to what God intended for us. There in the Garden of Eden where God’s will was done perfectly on earth as it is in heaven, there was nothing but love, joy, peace, and perfect intimacy with our Creator. Our Father’s heart can also be seen in his one command: Don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil. If we had been obedient, and God’s perfect will had always happened, we would have never had a concept of good and evil because we would have only experienced the good he wanted for us as our perfect Father.

What happened in the Garden when we first sinned was like an underwater earthquake way out in the ocean. What starts out like a ripple, by the time it reaches landfall, it’s a devastatingly destructive tsunami. All this evil that we see in our world today is not a reflection of the heart of God, but the natural effects of the sin tsunami that has been building in power since leaving its epicenter in the Garden. It is to be expected, but knowing that doesn’t stop the pain.

I never blame God for anything evil although I know he, in his sovereign power, allowed and allows evil things to happen. But here’s what I know about my Father. He can be trusted and He is always, alway good. Not only that, he is able to bring good out of the most evil of things. The greatest of all examples is how an innocent man, His only Son, was betrayed by his own people, captured, tortured, mocked, spit upon and nailed to a cross by Roman soldiers. Yet Father used this evil event to redeem the whole world and to free us all from sin and death.

Look at what Jesus did in John 11 when his friends came to him to tell him his friend Lazarus was deathly ill. Rather than run heal him, he stayed where he was for three days, allowing his friend to die. As his friends grieved, “Jesus wept.” Jesus felt the pain, but he also knew what he was going to do through this event. He was going to display his power over death.

Pain is everywhere we look. It is important that we allow ourselves to feel it, grieve deeply the losses we experience, embody Christ as we wrap our arms of comfort around each other, and draw near to the loving and healing presence of God. He really loves us.

“Father, I trust that you are good and I am sorry for the tsunami of evil that I, in Adam, brought into the world with my sin and rebellion against you. I want to thank you though, for rescuing me and reconciling me to you through the work of your son, Jesus. I know that you are in the process of healing all of our broken hearts and that you will restore all things to how you intended them to be. As Bryon and Aly, the parents of the children from Connecticut, and mom’s and dad’s all over the world grieve the loss of their precious children, may they all experience your supernatural comfort, joy, and anticipation of their reunion with them…as if it were going to happen tomorrow.”

(To hear Andy Stanley’s radio interview about the Connecticut tragedy, you can find that here: http://thebertshow.com/ctshooting/ )

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