Many people look at a tragedy such as this and conclude that there is no God. Others believe God exists but want nothing to do with a God who allowed this to happen. Why would God allow this to happen? David Brooks, writing in the New York Times commented, “This is a moment to feel deeply bad, for the dead and for those of us who have no explanation.” There are some events in our world that are shrouded in mystery. But we are not left in total desperation as Brooks would argue. The Bible provides us with some words of instruction when facing such difficult times.

The first thing we know is that God is not the author of evil. When God created this world He did not create a world of sin. The Bible says that God saw all that He made and it was very good. Imperfection entered the world, not because of God, but because of humanity. It was the free choice of Adam and Eve to disobey God that introduced sin and its consequences into our world. One of the consequences the earth now faced was occasional earthquakes, floods, famines, tsunamis and other natural disasters. But it was not this way at the beginning. This was the result of human sin.

The second thing we know about God is that He is able to take that which is dreadful and use it to bring good. Throughout the Bible we see that God takes the horrendous events of destruction and turns the situations around to use them for His glory and our good. What good can come from a tragedy such as this? Human compassion and charity has been and continues to be overwhelming. In fact, just weeks ago we were all appalled by a vicious fight in a pro basketball game and now one of the major participants in that fight (Jermaine Oneal) had his heart moved into giving thousands of dollars to relief efforts. My how tragedy moves the human heart and refocuses us all to think more seriously about what really matters in life.

Remember, even Jesus Himself wept over death and human pain. God still feels the hurts of our world. Let us weep with the hurting and reach out in love to those whose lives have been forever altered.