REFLECTIONS
Fiery plane crashes. Billowing smoke. Imploding buildings. Contorted metal. Mountains of rubble. Burned out fire trucks and police cruisers. Walking wounded. Dead bodies. Anguished, broken-hearted loved ones. Bone weary rescue workers. We have all seen the heart-wrenching sights. And we have replayed them over and over again in our minds.
With them come unanswered questions. Why? Why didn’t God intervene and prevent this unspeakable tragedy? Certainly He could have. Many wonder, “Doesn’t He care?”
1. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
The age old question and problem of evil has again poignantly and powerfully been brought to the forefront of our minds. “We wrestle with the question of evil - the pain and wickedness that are everywhere and so distressingly evident politically, socially and personally.” (Peterson)
It is so hard to fit evil into the scheme of things. Evil is the consequence of man’s sinful heart and free choice. Scripture (Jeremiah 17:9) declares, “THE HEART IS DESPERATELY WICKED.”
“Even those of us who have acknowledged the darkness and turned to the Lord for forgiveness are haunted by the shadow of evil. (146/789/Hybels) Our words speak of grace and love but often our actions often sting and wound.”
In varying degrees evil lurks within all of us. God has given us the freedom to chose good or evil. That is part of what it means to be human. We are not robots. We can do as we please.
Why do some people chose to do unfathomable evil?
Why does not God prevent them?
God hasn’t given us the complete answer.
Years ago in Oxford there was a brilliant and highly esteemed professor named C.E.M. Joad, one of the worlds’ most renowned philosophers. All his life he had been a militant unbeliever, because he said he couldn’t square the evil in the world with a good God.
Later in life, however, he became a very committed Christian and he said it was because he began to see that in order to have character there must be choice, a real choice between good and evil.
A man made good without his own choice is not a good man, he’s a good thing. The same God who created this world came into this world himself and lived in it on human terms and redeemed us through his Son, Jesus Christ. He created an innocent one with the possibility of choice, evil as well as good, and man chose evil and there was a fall. This exact thing is reproduced in the life of every one of us.
Then God provided redemption. That’s the Christian view of the world. And it begins to make sense when you believe in God as revealed in Jesus Christ.” (S. Shoemaker) To C.E.M. Joad and millions of others, the Gospel offers the best, albeit incomplete, answer to the problem of evil.
2. A REMINDER OF HOW FRAGILE AND TEMPORARY LIFE IS
James (4:13-15) writes: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend some time there, carry on business, make some money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Reading that I couldn’t help but think of the thousands who last Tuesday went about their normal business never realizing that it would be their last day on earth.
1 Chronicles 29:15 declares, “OUR DAYS ON EARTH ARELIKE A SHADOW, THERE IS NONE WHO ABIDES.”
The Psalmist said (102:11), “MY DAYS ARE LIKE AN EVENING SHADOW.”
Job (7:6) cried out saying, “MY DAYS ARE SWIFTER THAN A WEAVER’S SHUTTLE…”
Life here on earth is short. It is fleeting. We need, therefore, to be living for things that are eternal.
After declaring that our lives here on earth are “like a midst”, James admonishes us to pursue God’s will for our lives. That is the only prudent and sensible thing to do.
1 John 2:17 declares, “THE WORLD AND ITS DESIRES PASS AWAY, BUT THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER.”
What is God’s will for your life?
God desires for you to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. He wants you to follow and obey Christ; to daily live in the light of His presence. He wants you to serve Him.
“THE ONE WHO DOES THIS WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER.”
The night Daniel Webster lay dying, his physician and friend, Dr. Jeffries, was at his bedside. The Dr. picked up an old hymnbook of Webster’s and read the words of one of Webster’s favorite hymns.
There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Dr, Jeffries read through every stanza and when he got to the last, Webster’s lips were moving, though no sound came.
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave, Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing thy power to save,
As the doctor finished he looked at Webster, their eyes met and Daniel Webster uttered three final words: “Amen. Amen. Amen.”
Having come to the cross of Christ years earlier, Daniel Webster knew that, through the blood of the Savior, he could exchange his brief, fleeting, earthly life for eternal life.
You and I can do the same; have you?
Have you accepted Christ as your Savior and yielded your life to Him as Lord?
GOOD CAN COME OUT OF BAD
This wicked, unconscienceable evil that was perpetrated on tens of thousands of Americans can be used by God to bring about good.
After WW2 there was a great increase in church attendance with Americans turning in great numbers to God. Perhaps God can use these tragic events to bring about a much needed spiritual awakening in America.
We have drifted so far from God and we have become so godless! We trust more in our wealth and technology than in God. Sexual impurity and gross immorality have become so acceptable. Pornography and filth abound everywhere. Like an open cesspool flooding our homes through the television, internet, videos, and magazines polluting minds and ruining lives. Life is so cheap with abortion on demand. Lying, cheating and dishonesty have become the norm. Greed is rampant.
Could it not be that God will use our present national distress to bring about some much needed spiritual changes in America?
When the Confederate Army retreated after Gettysburg, General Lee wrote a remarkable letter to Jefferson Davis and it said in part these words: “We must expect reverses and even defeats. They are to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.”
The tragedy that befell our country Tuesday could be a wake-up call. It could be the beginning of a spiritual revival in America. Beginning with each one of us.
In the 67th verse of the 119th Psalm, the Psalmist said, “BEFORE I WAS AFFLICTED, I WENT ASTRAY.” At one point in his life he was headed in the wrong direction. He was doing his own thing with very little regard for God. Affliction, however, stopped him dead in his tracks. His troubles and trials were used by God to turn his life around.
The famous Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s experience illustrates just what the Psalmist meant. Speaking of his cruel and unjust political imprisonment in Russia, he wrote:
“It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirring of any good.”(275/505) Adversity turned him God-ward, it gave him a desire to seek and obey the Lord.
Might not God use this national tragedy to turn us around as a country?
Might He not use it to bring about spiritual revival in America? That should be our fervent and faithful prayer.
4. GOD IS SOVEREIGN
In spite of the evil that abounds Scripture makes it very clear that God is Sovereign.
1 Chronicles 29:12 declares “YOU ARE THE RULER OF ALL THINGS. IN YOUR HANDS ARE STRENGTH AND POWER…” Scripture makes it very clear that God is Sovereign. Sovereignty means God is Lord, Master, Ruler and King. Everyone answers to Him. He answers to no one. Everyone bows before Him. He bows before no one. Everything depends upon Him, He depends upon no one. He has no needs, no limitations and no fears.
He has everything under control. Nothing catches Him by surprise.” (120/705/M. Littleton)
Admittedly, the concept of God’s sovereignty in the face of despicable evil is hard for many to comprehend.
In Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer attempts to reconcile the seemingly contradictory truths of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will: An ocean liner leaves New York bound for England. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are scores of passengers.
They are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict.
So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history” no matter how much evil prevails.
God is sovereign. He is in ultimate control of all things. He has a plan. Life as we now know it will not continue on forever. God’s Word tells us that things will continue to get worse and worse. Then, someday, in God’s time, Christ will return to this sin-marred world to usher in a new order wherein dwelleth righteousness. There will be no more sickness, sorrow, suffering or sin. All evil will be eradicated.
Listen to the powerful words of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: “FOR THE LORD HIMSELF WILL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, WITH A LOUD COMMAND, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCH-ANGEL AND WITH THE TRUMPET CALL OF GOD, AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST.AFTER THAT, WE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE WILL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR. AND SO WILL WEE VER BE WITH THE LORD. THEREFORE, COMFORT EACH OTHER WITH THESE WORDS.”
The first time Christ came to earth, he came veiled in the form of a Child, born in a manger. The next time He comes, it will be immediately clear to all the world that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The first time he came there was no room for Him. The next time He comes, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory. The first time He came only a few attended His arrival, some shepherds and wise men.
The next time He comes, “EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM AND EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW….AND EVERY TIONGUE CONFESS THAT HE IS LORD.”
Indeed, God is in charge; He is sovereign. Make no mistake about it!
TRUST IN THE LORD
Since God is Sovereign, we should put our trust in Him. Our security is to be found in Him and not in our money, position or possessions. Not even in our government. Time after time the ancient Israelites learned that truth the hard way. Repeatedly they foolishly and regretfully turned from the Living God to trust in their military alliances and might.
God is Sovereign; He is eternal; He can be trusted. “TRUST IN THE LORD, says Proverbs 3:5 &6, “AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE WILL DIRECT YOUR PATHS.”
If you will do that then you will experience the promise of Isaiah: “YOU WILL KEEP IN PERFECT PEACE HIM WHOSE MIND IS STEADFAST, BECAUSE HE TRUSTS IN YOU.”
CONCLUSION
Psalm 46:1 says, “GOD IS MY REFUGE AND STRENGTH, AN EVER PRESENT HELP IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. THEREFORE WE WILL NOT FEAR….”
It is my deepest prayer that the events of this past week drive us closer to the Lord.
