On the day marked as the day of love, how does such hate occur?
As most of you have already read, heard, or seen yesterday marked yet another tragedy on a college campus, however this one in our back yard. As I watched the news reports yesterday I was filled with intense anger and sadness. Anger that people around each college campus will now attend their classes in fear, angry that 6 sets of parents had to bury their children, angry to see innocent victims victimized, angry because I don’t know what to do, sad because someone was this lonely to do something like this, and sad because this was not and is not God’s intent for humanity.
Questions have been filling my mind today, questions of how do we explain this? How does a sovereign God allow this to happen? If Satan is defeated then why does he seem so victorious at times? Questioning our part in this, what does the Church do? Wondering what the root problem is that continues to cause these school shootings? Wondering what it looks like to bring justice to this, or is this even up to me?
I’m not sure I have many answers, but questions I do have. How about you?
One thing I would like to speak to is how does God feel about shotguns in classrooms, how does this incident that happened yesterday impact him? I’m amazed when I hear people put things like this on God, or they say “this was what God wanted”, lets be clear God did not intend for this to happen. God did not take joy in seeing more of his beloved murdered. God did not take joy in witnessing such injustice, his heart breaks for this, his heart aches to see this, tears spill from heaven when these things occur.
As we journeyed through our Skurriculums last week we discussed a very fitting topic within our month focus of Re-Entry, that being Suffering.
It’s true that suffering is a natural result of living in a fallen world, and yet God can redeem it so that it becomes a vehicle to greater intimacy with Him.
This truth is what I’m clinging to right now, holding on to the truth that God does not delight in this, for he is perfect love. And as I hold on to this I pray toward the truth that he can use this suffering to bring about good, to bring about redemption.
I’d love to open this up to hear from you, how are you doing? What are your questions?
Lets chat and express our pain, our fear, and our hurt's within community.
Jon
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2 comments:
Hi, I'm from Richmond, VA. I check out Willow stuff/sites from time to time because I attended Shift 07. Anyway, before the NIU incident, I'd heard of two different reports of students being shot at High School campuses, and it makes me sad. I really have a heart for students, and my heart goes out to parents across the nation who send their kids off to school everyday trusting that they will return safely home. I feel that I should pray and intercede more for school campuses. I definitely think we need to encourage our students to live a lifestyle of prayer and intercession for their particular schools. I don't know what else to say. You just don't think about it happening again after Va. Tech. Man, I'm heart broken. Love
God of love, were you not there? Where were you, oh God of love, when the motive was created, when the weapon was obtained, when the deed was decided on, when the time had finally come? Where were you, oh Almighty creator of the universe, and where was your mercy?
Why play these games? I am not God, but is it so hard to imagine a world where people don't do these things to each other? Would it have been so difficult to create humankind with a little less potential for inflicting such pain and suffering on each other? You, who are supposedly wiser than I, could not do better? Why? Is my imagination more powerful than your creativity? More powerful than your compassion for your creation? Surely you knew what unspeakable things we would do to each other if you allowed us to, and yet you do allow us knowingly!
Is our potential for deeper love, which is so rarely realized, worth the too-common reality of hate and violence and inhumanity? Perhaps you were wrong, oh God of the universe, to give us such a dangerous thing as free will. Perhaps you too would suffer less.
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