Where are you, God?

It seems as if tragedy after tragedy continues to rock our world. This morning as I was watching the news about Las Vegas, I couldn’t help but be reminded about the night our family was held by gunpoint in our home last year and beat up. It brought up the question that I know people are asking today. Why? Why could God let something like this happen? Because every time tragedy, loss, and evil surfaces, so do the questions.

Sometimes when we ask--Where are you, God?--we ask it as if we are surprised about the evil we see. We wonder what’s wrong with our world when we watch constant news coverage of tragedies without any answers. We ask it because we want to know why God didn’t show up and stop what happened.

The truth is that sometimes God does intervene and dramatically steps in.

But sometimes he doesn’t.

As I began searching for myself after the attack, I was reminded that we live in a fallen world, and that God gives us the freedom to make choices. And what I begun to realize is that while most people wouldn’t like it if God forced us to follow him, we still want help when things go wrong. And here’s what really struck me. With freedom comes choice, but it also means we often have to suffer the consequences of bad choices—both ours and other peoples. God doesn’t give us free will, then stand over us and fix everything that goes wrong.

Maybe that sounds like a cliché, but for me, it struck a cord.

Because here’s the other thing I was reminded of. When God doesn’t intervene, it doesn’t mean he isn’t there. I think it means just the opposite. Because he decided not to just sweep down and fix our problems every time something goes wrong. Instead he chose to redeem us eternally by sending his Son.

Immanuel. God with us.

Tragedies like right now in Las Vegas and recently the hurricanes demonstrate the reality of a fallen world, and it’s pretty clear that none of us are immune from suffering. But God’s plan has always been a plan of redemption. While God is capable of fixing our problems, but He chose instead to rescue and redeem humankind permanently.

There are no easy, pat answers. Nothing that will fix what happened. But what He does promise is to walk with us through the bad times. As crazy as it seems, somehow, when bad things happen, we start to see God’s grace. We start to dig deeper. Often it takes trauma to get someone searching for God. And hard times give us compassion toward others, deeper love, and more courage.

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NLT)