One of the curious things about tragedies is much of the time they bring people, people who would never unite under any other circumstance, together. America has never at any other point in history been as unified as it was immediately following 9/11. Today this seems to no longer be the case. In the face of insurmountable tragedies taking place in our country with increasing regularity, we as a people are as divided as we have ever been. The unity of the Bible seems nowhere to be found. And in many cases, neither does God.
Disagreement has turned to hatred. Mourning into lobbying. Any mass shooting instantly sparks a debate on gun control, prejudice or how to view Islam. Through the ISIS ties or mentally unstable explanations or prejudices against gays, blacks or Christians that we see following all of the recent mass murders, one question seems to permeate through them all.
"Where is God?"
Some other questions I've heard and read look a lot like these, "If you're God is so good, how does He sit back and watch so much suffering take place? How can God allow Christina Grimmie to get shot? Why didn't he stop the bomb from going off at the Boston marathon? Why didn't he cause the Newtown shooter to fail, or for Brock Turner to be caught quicker? If you claim your God to be so great, explain why so many atrocities happen on his watch?"
I come from a place of painful, humble honesty when I say that, even though I'm a Christian I cannot give an answer that will satisfy. I know evil exists because of free will, and the evil brought on the world has been introduced by our own inclinations and proclivities. That still is not appeasing in the slightest. When I look back and read of the 11 million deaths in the Holocaust (which is more than the population of 43 different American states). Or the massacres in Rwanda or the Khmer Rouge and you just want to look at God and shout "Why!?" With every tragedy it seems harder to accept that a loving God is still there, yet he assures us that through all the chaos, crisis, and confusion, our pain has purpose, and His love has not forsaken.
We may not see it. Many times these tragedies are just senseless, pure acts of the most insidious of evils, but in the grander reality they are but gateways to a richer grace. In the wake of these horrors is where God's light shines the brightest. While this is a tough truth to accept, especially when you find yourself in the middle of suffering, that makes it no less true. The Lord tells us He is with us and will guide us through "the valley of the shadow of death." We can trust God to be there with us through the midst of it all, whether we are victims or witnesses, because he went through it too.
A man named Jesus Christ died on a cross, that is a historical fact. There is no other event in the history of the world that has more historical support. ESPN said the death of Christ is the most influential event in history. So if we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christ did face the world's most humiliating, excruciating, and horrifying death for our sake, and God watched his own son get tortured and die for our future, why would we ever doubt that he cares?
I cannot give you a full explanation of why God allows us and our neighbors to suffer and die. I truly don't know. But I can tell you the answer to the question, "Where is God in all of this chaos?"
He's right in the middle of it. As our perfect mediator he already suffered for us, so he can be fully with us through every trial. With you, with the victims, and with every other bystander. I urge you not to take the presence of God for granted in the midst of what took place this past week. God is with Orlando. He is with the Grimmie's. He's stands with UCLA.
And He's with you. And He always will be.
