A very dark cloud has come over the American college community this week. We all saw coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, watching in dismay and horror. Thirty-two lives ended, just like that: Ross • Christopher • Brian • Ryan • Austin • Jocelyne • Daniel • Kevin • Matthew • Caitlin • Jeremy • Rachael • Emily • Jarrett • Matthew • Henry • Liviu • G.V. • Partahi • Lauren • Daniel • Juan • Minal • Erin • Michael • Julia • Mary • Reema • Waleed • Leslie • Maxine • Nicole.
There is much to PRAY about in the wake of this disaster. Pray for comfort for grieving relatives and friends of the victims. Pray that devastated survivors will run to and not away from God in this hour of great vulnerability. Pray that this shocking reminder of life’s fragility will help many “invincible” people to grapple with the fact of death and come to Christ for eternal life.
Amidst the tumult of emotions and questions, no doubt we all wonder about God’s purposes: what was God up to that morning at VT? Where is God when tragedy strikes—especially when it hits those who are innocent? How can we make sense of this madness?
There are ways of answering such questions that only make things worse. Like supposing God wasn’t able to prevent the suffering (the biblical message about God’s omnipotence is clear; see, e.g., Ps 115:3; Jer 32:17; Dan 4:35; Eph 3:20; etc.). Or imagining that God doesn’t really care enough to meet our needs (see John 3:16; Rom 5:8; 8:38-39). Better to pause, take a breath, and recognize that in some ways God and his designs are beyond us. (When you think about it, how could it be any other way? How could God be God and still somehow fit into our human-sized imaginations and limitations? It is perfectly reasonable that the God of the universe is way too vast to be captured in our fallible human reasoning.)
Let me recommend a resource that I’ve found helpful when pondering these large questions. John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote an article after Columbine and then updated it after 9/11 in which he offers twenty-one suggestions for ministering to grieving survivors in the aftermath of tragedy.
God bless you as you seek his face and as you pray for his sovereign ingenuity to overturn evil for good!
