I don’t understand violence. I don’t understand anyone purposely acting in a manner to hurt another person. And I definitely cannot comprehend what drives someone to take the lives of people who had nothing to do with them. Children. Teachers. Whomever.
But the real question inside me I’m not sure I want to address is…why didn’t God stop that guy on Friday? Because I have to admit…I know He could have. But He didn’t. So why? I guess something in me desires to blame someone. The mom? The weapons-made-available to him? I want a why in order to process such cruelty.
But the ‘why’ won’t change what happened.
And blame won’t bring back those who were killed.
And so I pray God will bring peace and comfort to the families because I don’t know what else to pray. I’ve never faced that and hope I never have to.
I pray God will bring incredible stories from this tragedy as only He can do.
I pray each family affected will be saturated with God’s presence, and that what was meant for evil will be turned for good in some sort of way.
Sadly, it also reminded me that when Jesus was born, King Herod was so angry that the wise men had outwitted him from reaching Baby Jesus, he had all the boys who were two-years-old and under killed. Imagine the leader of your country ordering your toddler killed because he didn’t want his position to be threatened.
I guess selfishness and cruelty are not new concepts. Even though they still stun us when they show up.
Which makes me wonder if Mary and Joseph knew people who lost children because their son, Jesus, was born? {Talk about a reason for ‘blame’.} Did they have friends who mourned while they rejoiced? Maybe so.
But in the midst of all that, Jesus was there. {Just like He is now.} Ready to bring peace, love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and salvation to us. To people who so desperately needed it. And apparently still do.
“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” {Philippians 4:7, NLT}
Despite the recent events, I pray each of you has a holiday filled with things to be grateful for.
{Images courtesy of Flickr}
Hundreds of autos are stolen, in our area, but yesterday our Honda Pilot sat in a crowded busy parking lot with the key in the door, while we shopped for over an hour. A car theft is no comparison to the tragedy in Newton, CT but the question relates to both. Someone could ask why our auto was not stolen, with the key in the door, and theirs was all locked up, in front of the store.
Age with experience convinced me the question is pointless. God doesn’t have to answer and usually doesn’t. Since we humans shy away from taking responsibility for our spiritual and moral environments the question posed will not be answered. One group will say, “we are all responsible” and I tend to agree with them.
Gary Ware recently posted..Which Group(s) Are YOU Assigned To?
So true.