Where is God in a Mass Killing?

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

The people of El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, have recently lived through, and will be living through for some time, the distress of seeing in their own cities two of the worst mass shootings in modern American history.  These tragic outbreaks of violence remind us that we live in a lost and broken world. But as people of faith, we know that this broken world is also loved by God.  Many of the people directly involved, and those across the nation, have been asking, “Where was God in all of this?”  For many Christians, when disaster or some great evil strikes, this is a hard question to answer. 

Maybe it is for you also.

The first thing we must do in the aftermath of this sort of horror is to make sure that we do not take the name of God in vain.  After a natural disaster or an act of terror, one will always find someone, often claiming the cloak of Christianity, lecturing about how this moment was God’s judgment on an individual, a city, or a nation for some specified sin.

Jesus told us specifically not to do this, after His disciples asked whether a man’s blindness was the result of his or his parent's sin.  Jesus said no to both. (See John 9:1-12)  These self-appointed prophets who would blame the victims for what befalls them are just that, self-appointed.  We should listen to Jesus and to His apostles, not to them.  Those killed whether in a terror attack, a tsunami, or in an epidemic are not more sinful than all of the rest of us.

When an obvious and appalling injustice such as this one is done, we should stand where God does and see this as real evil, not as an illusion of evil.  This means that our response to such should not be some sort of passive resignation but instead an expression of grief with those around us who are hurting.

Christians sometimes assume that our non-Christian friends and neighbors want to hear a detailed explanation, to justify God in light of such horror.  The Bible doesn’t give us easy answers.  The Word of God instead speaks of the “…secret power of lawlessness...” (See 2 Thessalonians 2:7) When tragedy fell upon Job, an ancient follower of God, and asked why such happened to him, God did not fully answer him.  Instead, God spoke of His own power and His own presence.  That’s exactly what we should do.

We do not know why God does not intervene and stop some tragedies.  What we do know, though, is that God stands against evil and violence.  We know that God is present for those who are hurting. And we know that God will ultimately call all evil to a halt and usher in His kingdom.  

What they need from us is to weep and hurt with them, as Jesus did at the grave of His friend, Lazarus. They need us to be a people of the cross, a people whose God is not distant and quiet but a God who instead loved the world enough to send His Son to bear in His own body the full measure of the curse of evil.  In the cross, we see evil and horror, and we also see that God is there.  And in the empty tomb, we see that death does not get the last word. 

Someday we'll see with clarity, but for now things are foggy.  We can't understand everything from our finite perspective.  And frankly, the people suffering from these tragedies don't need a big theological discourse right now; any intellectual response is going to seem trite and inadequate.  Our neighbors do not need us to provide easy answers to what is, this side of heaven, unexplainable. What they need, is a reminder from us that life is not the meaningless chaos it seems to be.  What they desperately need now is the very real and comforting presence of Jesus Christ in their lives.

God does much more than sympathize with us in our troubles.  After all, any close friend can do that. Any close friend can sit beside you and comfort you and empathize with you.  No, Jesus is much closer than your closest friend.  If you've put your trust in Him, then He is in you.  And, therefore, your sufferings are His sufferings; your sorrow is His sorrow.

So when tragedy strikes, as it will; when suffering comes, as it will; when you're wrestling with pain, as you will, and when you make the choice to run into His arms, here's what you're going to discover.  You will find peace to deal with the present, you'll find courage to deal with your future, and you'll find the incredible promise of eternal life in heaven.

“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." (John 16:33)

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.