Monday, December 17, 2012

Why God?

Earlier this week, I was working on a blog post titled, "Spiders for Christmas" and you were going to love it. But, things change drastically when a madman goes into an elementary school and massacres 26 precious children and unsuspecting adults.
 
So, how are you doing? Doing Okay? No. Maybe anxious or fearful? Perhaps you are angry or confused? It's okay. It really is okay to feel like you are floundering a tiny bit - or a lot - for that matter. For many, Friday's shooting has created either a diminished sense of hope and/or a crisis of faith. If you can relate, then this post is for you.
 
One of the most common questions people after tragedy ask is: Why did this happen? And, if you are really being honest, you really want to know why God would let this happen? Truth is, I don't know why this happened - and I highly doubt that the folks at MSNBC, CNN or FoxNews can adequately answer that question either. No one can really, truly answer why that young man got out of bed and destroyed the lives of so many. You can drive yourself crazy by pushing for an answer to an unanswerable question or you might ask another question: "What can I do?
 
If you are struggling, I have a few thoughts that might help you process through this tragedy. By the way, my comments are going to be faith-based because that's how I roll. Even if you aren't a person who agrees with my faith, I'd like to think you could still get something out of this...
 
Is there still hope for our crazy, evil world?
Answer: A resounding YES! Yes, there is still hope in this world - and YOU can still have hope! Why? It never takes more than a day after a tragic event for us to begin hearing stories of heroes who stepped into the path of evil or difficult circumstances to do good.  I'm tearing up right now as I think about 27-year old teacher Victoria Soto, who stepped into the gunman's line of fire after hiding her first graders. Victoria's only thought in the face of evil was to protect her students - she did not run, she did not give up. Victoria pushed back against evil by doing good. While she may have died, the good she did - the lives she saved - cannot be diminished by her death.
 
Tragedy creates heroes. Heroes give us hope. Think about all of the heroes from devastating tragedies such as Columbine, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech, Aurora, CO shootings. In every instance, Evil made a play and while there was loss, further loss was always prevented by those who valiantly stood their ground or others who stormed into the path of danger.
In John 16:33, Jesus reminds us that we live in a broken world because we stray far from God because we want to make our own decisions. Often, our decisions hurt others. Far too often, our decisions have destroyed lives. Since I am unable to single-handedly eliminate evil from the world, here are some important words from Jesus that being me hope: "I have told you these things 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."
This is where the faith stuff comes in. If I have to process through intense tragedy without a filter that includes a solution that is greater, smarter and more powerful than myself, I would feel hopeless. We lose hope when we don't see a solution that we can successful bring to fruition. Therefore, when it seems like Evil is winning, we get anxious or fearful because we begin to believe that Evil will one day overcome us. It is simply not true for those who have faith in Christ. "Taking heart" means that we can have hope that no matter what we face on earth - shooters, car accidents, cancer, poverty, job loss, addiction - we can always have hope when we have Christ because we can never be overtaken by evil. Never. Amen.
 
I know there are some skeptics still asking: "If Jesus is so powerful, then why didn't He stop this from happening?" Good question, that's where I'm heading next - but, remember, there is no answer to why this happened...
 
Why didn't God stop this?
In his book, If God is Good, author Randy Alcorn asks a provocative question: "Why haven't tyrants, with access to powerful weapons, destroyed the planet? What has kept infectious diseases and natural disasters from killing 99% of the world's population?"

That quote got me to thinking: If people were able to follow every evil thought, our world would grind to a halt. Ever thought about that? Yes, there is tremendous evil in our world and atrocities have blighted the record of humanity, but based on the evil that we've seen, humanity is clearly capable of much worse. While we cannot explain why God doesn't stop the evil that we do see and experience, could God be restraining other catastrophic evils because we would be unable to handle more than what is currently burdening our lives?
 
Likewise, are we really aware of how often God does protect us? Probably not. How often do we truly express gratitude for every car ride without an accident, every cold without death, every meal without food contamination, etc... Someone on my Facebook thread was struggling with the concept of writing a gratitude list because he didn't think it would matter considering the evil we had seen in Connecticut. Gratitude does matter! The presence of evil always tries to blind us from the reality that goodness cannot be destroyed, no matter how hard and painfully evil tries to destroy it. When we intentionally express gratitude, it makes us aware of how God is moving in this world. Try writing out that gratitude list!

Questions?




Finally, I know that this post isn't going to answer all of the questions out there. If you do have questions, bring them one. I'm not going to pretend I've got all of the answers, but I'm not afraid of quesitons. Email me at barbr@cedarcreek.tv or find me on Facebook or Twitter - @barbielroose.
 
CREEKERS (or anyone else...)
 1. Make sure to follow www.livingitout.tv this week. There's a great study on prayer that also will help you talk to God in a way that is genuine and authentic.
2. Christmas Services start this Saturday! We've got 50 identifical services at four campuses and a live broadcast on our internet campus! Service times: Saturday - 3:30pm, 5:15pm, 7pm; Sunday - 9am, 10:45am, 12:30pm; Monday - 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm.
3. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Randy Alcorn, If God is Good and Philip Yancey, Where is God When It Hurts. These books have no easy answers and the authors use a lot of great thinking and wisdom to take on the toughest questions on humanity,evil and suffering.

 


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