Tragedy.
It strikes without warning.
It strikes even the young.
Last week it did both in America at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
One moment children were exactly where they were supposed to be while doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
In the next moment twenty of them along with several adults were dead.
So was the gunman that ended their lives.
It does not make sense.
The days leading up to Christmas are supposed to be days filled with joy, aren‘t they?
Now, a community begins coping with a tremendous loss.
A nation begins asking difficult questions.
As if this were not sad enough, sadder still is the fact that those without faith will use this to excuse their unbelief.
"If God exists," they reason, "why would He let innocent children die?"
It is time to wake up.
Believers and unbelievers alike must understand that evil exists in this world.
There simply is no way to sugar coat this.
1 Peter 5:8 (NET) - Be sober and alert. Your enemy, the devil, like a roaring lion is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.
We may never know what the gunman’s personal motives were.
We do know that Satan can convince almost anyone of anything.
John 8:44 (NET) - You people are from your father, the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.
In fact, that is the one thing he will do that God will never do.
God will not lie.
Titus 1:2 (NET) - in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.
But what of the tragedy?
Doesn’t God care?
Is God just a casual observer?
On the contrary, God cares very much and He does more than merely observe.
The life of Joseph provides us with an excellent example of his involvement when evil strikes.
Joseph’s brothers allowed jealousy to cloud their sense of family and their sense of right and wrong.
In the beginning, they actually plotted to kill their own brother.
They threw him into a pit.
Then, they sold him into slavery which took him to Egypt.
There, Joseph refused the advances of his master’s wife and ended up in prison as a result of her lies.
There, he was even forgotten by a prisoner whom he had helped.
Frankly speaking, a lot of bad things happened to Joseph.
Yet God was with Joseph every step of the way.
With God’s help, Joseph attained the position of prime minister and his efforts saved the lives of many during a terrible famine.
This included the lives of the very brothers who sold him into slavery in the first place.
Joseph was keenly aware of God’s presence and the active role God played when evil befell him.
Genesis 50:20 (NET) - As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so He could preserve the lives of many people as you see this day.
God can and does use the results of evil for good.
He did this with Joseph.
I am confident that He will do so with this tragedy as well.
At this point parents are dealing with the pain that comes with the death of a child.
I cannot even begin to imagine what that must feel like.
God knows.
He knows only too well.
After all, He watched His Only Son die a painful and humiliating death on a cross.
A Son who willingly died for you and me and the victims in Newtown, Connecticut.
So, what do we do now?
How do we move forward and make a nation, indeed the world, a better place?
We do what Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, did.
We pray.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NET) - If My people, who belong to Me, humble themselves, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
As for the children, I close with the words spoken by Jesus Himself.
Luke 16:18 (NET) - But Jesus called for the children saying, "Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com
It strikes without warning.
It strikes even the young.
Last week it did both in America at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
One moment children were exactly where they were supposed to be while doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
In the next moment twenty of them along with several adults were dead.
So was the gunman that ended their lives.
It does not make sense.
The days leading up to Christmas are supposed to be days filled with joy, aren‘t they?
Now, a community begins coping with a tremendous loss.
A nation begins asking difficult questions.
As if this were not sad enough, sadder still is the fact that those without faith will use this to excuse their unbelief.
"If God exists," they reason, "why would He let innocent children die?"
It is time to wake up.
Believers and unbelievers alike must understand that evil exists in this world.
There simply is no way to sugar coat this.
1 Peter 5:8 (NET) - Be sober and alert. Your enemy, the devil, like a roaring lion is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.
We may never know what the gunman’s personal motives were.
We do know that Satan can convince almost anyone of anything.
John 8:44 (NET) - You people are from your father, the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.
In fact, that is the one thing he will do that God will never do.
God will not lie.
Titus 1:2 (NET) - in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.
But what of the tragedy?
Doesn’t God care?
Is God just a casual observer?
On the contrary, God cares very much and He does more than merely observe.
The life of Joseph provides us with an excellent example of his involvement when evil strikes.
Joseph’s brothers allowed jealousy to cloud their sense of family and their sense of right and wrong.
In the beginning, they actually plotted to kill their own brother.
They threw him into a pit.
Then, they sold him into slavery which took him to Egypt.
There, Joseph refused the advances of his master’s wife and ended up in prison as a result of her lies.
There, he was even forgotten by a prisoner whom he had helped.
Frankly speaking, a lot of bad things happened to Joseph.
Yet God was with Joseph every step of the way.
With God’s help, Joseph attained the position of prime minister and his efforts saved the lives of many during a terrible famine.
This included the lives of the very brothers who sold him into slavery in the first place.
Joseph was keenly aware of God’s presence and the active role God played when evil befell him.
Genesis 50:20 (NET) - As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so He could preserve the lives of many people as you see this day.
God can and does use the results of evil for good.
He did this with Joseph.
I am confident that He will do so with this tragedy as well.
At this point parents are dealing with the pain that comes with the death of a child.
I cannot even begin to imagine what that must feel like.
God knows.
He knows only too well.
After all, He watched His Only Son die a painful and humiliating death on a cross.
A Son who willingly died for you and me and the victims in Newtown, Connecticut.
So, what do we do now?
How do we move forward and make a nation, indeed the world, a better place?
We do what Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, did.
We pray.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NET) - If My people, who belong to Me, humble themselves, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
As for the children, I close with the words spoken by Jesus Himself.
Luke 16:18 (NET) - But Jesus called for the children saying, "Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com
