Where is God When Tragedy Hits



Taken from Google Images:
Woman praying at Boston Marathon Bombing

This is an excerpt from a sermon I preached at New Mercy Baptist Church (Griffin, GA) titled, “Where is God When Tragedy Hits?”  I delivered this message the Sunday after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.  Given the recent tragedy in Boston at the Boston Marathon, I think the sentiments of this message will resonate with people today as well. 

When tragedy strikes we often look for answers.  We want to know why would someone do such a thing?  And much of our questioning leads to how could God allow this to happen?  We ask where was God in this tragedy?  My prayer this morning is that through God’s Word we can find some sense of peace and perspective to such a tragic event.  I am mindful that we have children in our congregation today and I want to offer them words of comfort as well.  My message to our children is that sometimes bad things happen to good people, even children, but God is always with you.  When you decide to believe in Jesus Christ, He is with you always even in scary times.  Your parents, grandparents, and the adults in your life, here at New Mercy and at your school will do all in our power to make sure that you are always safe…that you always feel loved, and you can trust us to help you whenever bad things happen.  Amen, adults?  Amen.  Our Scripture text comes from Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 

There are a few things I want to make clear before moving forward.

Evil is not from God.

In Genesis when God completed His creation, He looked at it and called it good.  James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from God.  Many people use such tragedies as to point a finger and say there is no God.  They point to the evil of this world and conclude that God doesn’t exist because evil exists.  But my problem with that is: When someone deems something as evil then there must be some standard of good by which to judge that.  You can’t claim that something is evil without having some concept of what is good.  And God is good.  We can’t rely on culture because what’s good and evil in culture is different.  What’s good in India may be considered evil in the United States.  We can’t rely on society because there are many things that were once considered evil in our society that society now embraces.  Our standard for what is good is God.  So to say that there is evil means there must be some standard of good and that standard is God.

God’s goodness and Satan’s evilness are not exact opposites of one another.

They are not on the same level.  You can’t say that good and evil are the opposite of one another because that assumes that God and Satan have the same power and they don’t.  God’s power is greater than that of Satan’s.  God is omnipotent…ALL powerful.  I’m not saying that Satan doesn’t have some power.  And apart from God our lives would be overcome by Satan’s power.  But with God in us we are more than conquerors over Satan.  God always prevails.  Light always overcomes darkness.  Love always overcomes hate.  God has the power to overcome evil and He already has through His son Jesus Christ.  It’s just we won’t see the full manifestation of His triumph until He returns.  So evil still exists, but whenever those of us in Christ decide to respond with goodness and love, evil must fall. 

Evil is a result of sin.

The root of evil in this world is sin.  God’s creation was good and is good, but since the sin of Adam, sin has been a part of the nature of every person born.  Sin in its simplest definition is disobedience to God.  God gave us free will and in our free will we often choose sin.  In giving us free will, God in essence allowed for the potential of evil, but it was not created by Him.  Is that clear?  You see when you give someone a choice, they may choose what you want them to choose or they may not.  Some things are out of God’s control, not because He chooses for it to be that way, but because we choose for it to be that way.  We reject His commandments and His ways thereby taking our lives out of the control of God and into our own.  And that my friends, is sin and it can quickly become evil when it remains unrepentant and unchecked.

It’s interesting that it is only in tragedy that we plead to God about the evil in the world.  Job 2:10 “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”  We want all the blessings that come with following God, but none of the suffering.  We somehow think our lives are exempt from tragedy when often times it is our choices that bring about our suffering.  It’s only in our pain do we stop and question why God allows free will.  We don’t cry out to God about our free will when it is pleasing to us.  It is only when it causes pain.  It is only when we feel the negative consequences of our sin or the sin of others that we question God’s sovereignty.  When we are partying, sexing, cheating, stealing, lying, and everything else we are big and bad enough to do, we don’t get angry at God about sin or His allowance of free will.  As a matter of fact, many of us get defensive of our freedom to sin.  It’s my body.  It’s my life.  I can do what I please.  God gave us free will.  He wants us to choose to subject our free will to His authority even when we can’t see the big picture.

We only know in part.

I can’t speak with great knowledge and confidence as to why God allows specific incidents of suffering and tragedy.  Why did God allow those people to be killed on Friday?  I don’t know.  And we may never fully know on this side of Heaven. We may never know the why’s behind every tragedy.  Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us: The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.  I Corinthians 13:9 says: For we know in part and we prophesy in part…

Verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 13 goes on to say: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  What that means is that we may not fully satisfy our why question until the end.  Until then we must focus on what we do know about the nature of God and His promises to those that put their trust in Him.   

·         We know that God that cares for us.  (1 Peter 5:7)

·         We know that He is the anchor of our soul. (Hebrews 6:19)

·         We know that His mercies are new every morning and that He is compassionate and faithful toward us. (Lamentations 3:22-24)

·         We know that we are valuable to God and purchased with a great price…the blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20)

·         We know that what others mean for evil God will turn it around for our good. (Genesis 50:20)

·         We know that God will never leave us nor forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5)

·         We know that God hears our cry for help. (Psalm 18:6)

And I could go on and on.  There is a quote that says: Don’t let what you don’t know to do stop you from doing what you do know to do.  So while we may never fully know right now the why’s behind tragedies, we must stand firm in what we do know. 

Every tragedy or evil that may enter our lives, God is working it for our good.  So where is God when tragedy hits?  God is working it out for our good.  God is aligning this tragedy with His plan for our lives.  Now He did not cause or initiate the tragedy, He uses it.  Nothing in our lives is wasted.  And there will be a day and time where evil and tragedy will no longer exist.  There will be a day when goodness in its purest form is restored to the world. Romans 8:22 tells us that all of creation groans and waits for deliverance unto God.  That includes us…we await the return of Christ to deliver us from ourselves and this sin-sick world.  And when that day comes the pain and heartache we experience now because of evil and tragedy in this world won’t even compare the joy and peace we will experience in the presence of God.  Romans 8:18 says: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

And when God delivers us from the pain of this tragedy, the pain of our suffering, we must remember that He did just that...He delivered us.  When the news crews leave and the media moves on; When the lump in our throat begins to subside or the pit in our stomach starts to go away or the anxiety in our heart calms, we must remember that it was God that met us in our tragedy.  God may have come in the form of a friend or a stranger that cared for us; that loved us, that hugged us or held our hand.  For it is the goodness of the God within us that moves us to compassion for others.  When the tragedy is a distant memory, we must not take the controls of our life back from God but rather know that the God that met us in our tragedy is the same God that is with us when all is well and we must remember so when tragedy strikes again and it will.  In John 16:33: Jesus tells us that in this world we shall have tribulation, but be of good courage.  I have overcome the world.  We must remember that so the next tragedy doesn’t shake us into disbelief but rather it will strengthen our faith.  So that in the next tragedy when we ask, Where is God when tragedy hits?  We can answer with assurance.  God is with us.