While this is not the only tragedy this week, it is the one that has the attention of America. The nation is in a state of shock that something so senseless and so violent can happen and happen so often. It makes us ask the hard questions: Where is God in all of this? Did God not know about this? Could he not have stopped it? Was there something about those people in that theater that can explain this? Of all the theaters and all of the movies playing last night and all of the ballgames and restaurants and malls and family gatherings... why did those particular people die?
Those are difficult questions. They aren't bad questions, just difficult. So here are few things we should know as we seek the answers:
- This is not the first time these questions have been asked. These are age old questions. They have been asked before and unfortunately, they will be asked again.
- This is not the time for hasty answers. It is inevitable that some misguided people who have more words than wisdom will try to use this tragedy to promote their own agenda, political or otherwise. That too is unfortunate.
- The word of God speaks to this. There are few questions the Bible does not answer if we will only be humble enough to listen and careful enough to study.
I had planned to wrap up our series on David this Sunday in our 10:45 worship service, but I believe the Lord is leading me to speak to this tragedy. People have questions, good questions. Thankfully the Bible has answers, good answers. You have friends and family who will be asking questions. Let us be prepared to honestly and humbly give a reason for the hope we have.
I hope you will join us this Sunday as we focus on the question, "Why does God allow Tragedies?" This would be a good weekend to invite your friends and family to join you for this time of worship.
If you out of town and unable to attend Sunday, I plan to post a few comments on this next week at www.AbideWithHim.com.
