Where is god when tragedy strikes

This past week we have yet another cruel act of violence. This time a deadly shooting of innocents while they are in a Texas church service. They were worshipping the very God that some say did not save them. So many questions: Why? What good does praying do? What good does worshipping God do? How could God allow even little babies to be brutally murdered?

Where was God? Was it something they did? Why was God allowing this to happen to good people? What Would Jesus Say? People really asked Jesus the same thing. The 2 incidents cited above involving a brutal church massacre and a building accident that caused the death of 18 men literally happened when Jesus walked the earth.

For reasons unknown, the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, directed the bloody murder of a group of Jewish people during sacrificial services at the temple. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

I tell you, no! But unless you repent , you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? This is a strange response that is actually fairly loaded with meaning and a Godly perspective, from Jesus the God-Man himself. The people were looking for a comforting and rational explanation as to why bad things happen. Maria was the sister of Toronto-born pop artist Joee, a local hero in my city, as much for his music as for the Italian heritage he shares with most of its populace.

She lived, worked, and died not more than a half hour away from where I live. On the day of the accident, Maria took her lunch break outside in a nearby plaza, as she often did, but that day, a car jumped the curb and struck her before falling off the edge of the elevated lot.

Both Maria and the year-old driver were killed. When we hear such reports, our natural human instinct is to recoil in horror before scrambling to try and somehow make sense of what happened. But tragedies are rarely so easily understood, which usually means that God ends up taking the blame. Allow me to jump for a moment to another, more lighthearted scene—my friends and I, all having discerned a vocation to marriage , discussing our single state.

Maybe God wants us to wait. Something about that line has always irked me. Of course, my inability to fathom such a possibility hardly excludes its existence. Thankfully for us, the answer to that question is a loud, resounding no. So why are we so quick to fall into this erroneous line of thinking when it comes to other matters? The problem is two-fold:. Maybe God is acting in this situation by preparing them. Pre-register your children to save time!

Plan a Visit Pre-Register. New to Grace? Serve at Grace Outreach Partners Missionaries. When Tragedy Strikes When tragedy, sickness, hardship or death strike it is to easy wonder, where is God?

God is in control. God knows our problems and pain. No matter what happens, God will help us through. God dwells within His people, therefore we are never abandoned or alone. Related Content.

Hearing that God is not controlling everything that happens may at first cause some Christians great consternation, and even feelings of helplessness. Perhaps this is because they have actually trusted more in fatalistic pre-determinism than in the love, power, ability, resourcefulness, and willingness of God to keep His promises regarding the present and the future.

B You are God. Good luck! C There is a God who determines everything that happens. He is able and willing to both help you and hurt you, and there are no guarantees which He will do, or when He will do it. D There is a God who once made a Paradise for man and who has guaranteed for those who believe His Word that it will one day again be so. In the meantime, He and His Son are far more powerful than their and your enemy, and they are doing their absolute best for you each day. Which sounds best to you?

But He is not the sovereign ruler in the affairs of man to the end that His will is always done. For example, 1 Timothy says that God wills that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, but obviously this is not happening. Satan has a great deal; angels and evil spirits have some; Christians have some.

But God is the most powerful One in the fight, and that is why He will eventually win. Where is God When Tragedy Strikes?