Fifty lives were taken in one night. An aspiring young singer was shot while opening her arms to a supposed fan. All in Orlando and within days of each other.
The scene in the night club now holds the title of the largest shooting in America and it has left our country more confused and with more grief. Christina Grimmie died at the young age of 22, causing our generation to wonder, why her? These devastating events leave even strangers like me heartbroken. I did not know Christina Grimmie and I didn't know a single soul in that night club and yet, I'm hurting. And wondering. I'm wondering how we could live in a world so broken. As a Christian, I'm wondering how God could let this go on.
Why take a girl who just wanted to sing, and was singing for God? Why was the LGBT community targeted that night when they already have targets on their back every day. I think about all the family and friends who are directly affected by these terrible events. I think, if I can't see the good in this, how could they? And how could God possibly get glory through these tragic events?
If you are expecting answers to these questions, I'm sorry, but I don't have them. I'm wrestling through the confusion and grief along with all the others. What I do know is that God wants us coming to Him with these hard questions. He wants us wrestling to find answers.
Our world is clearly broken and sinful and yet it still reflects its' Creator. But a broken world does not mean a broken Father. God reveals His character all throughout the Bible and He remains faithful to that character to this day. He remains constant in that character even when this world goes haywire. Jesus says in John 16:33,"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." This truth is easy to remember when life is good, but when life gets rough? It somehow gets forgotten and pushed to the back of our minds. We forget about the peace that Jesus brings and the power God holds over all the evil in this world.
I think of all the times I sing the song lyrics, "You're a good good Father, it's who You are," and I think of how hard it is to sing those lyrics amidst the world tragedies. But then I ask myself, why? Is my faith that weak that when troubles come, I so easily don't believe that my Father is still good? He has proven over and over to me that He is real and that He is faithful and yet, one thing goes wrong and it's like He was never there. By wrestling through my questions, I'm learning I need to continuously sing those lyrics through the tragedies, because amidst them, God's power remains and so does His love. Through it all His goodness still remains.
With a heavy heart, I still have questions, but my confidence in God's character is greater. Putting my trust in Him means trusting His character, and trusting His character means still seeing His goodness despite all the brokenness this world continuously displays. My prayers go out to all the hurting families and to the rest of the world. My prayer is that through it all, God's love would be even more powerfully seen and that hearts would join together in saying, "But if not, He is still good."
