During times in which tragedy strikes, I find it helpful to meditate on the unshakable record of God’s providence in times past. Beginning in Daniel 9:24 we find a prophecy indicating that the Messiah, the “Anointed One,” will come 489 years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem. We know from the discovery of the Elephantine Papyri (The Elephantine Papyri is the collective name commonly given to several archives of documents belonging to members of a Jewish garrison community which inhabited the island of Elephantine near Aswan in Egypt, between 495 and 399 B.C.) in Egypt and the Jewish calendar that the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the spring of 457 B.C. If you go from 457 B.C. and add 489 years you will arrive at 32 A.D. – the time Christ is “cut off” for the sins of the people (Dan. 9:26).
Daniel could not have been more accurate! The precision of this prophecy and the subsequent sacrifice of Jesus serve to refresh my hope that His plan is in motion even though I see large doses of enormous pain and suffering on TV.
In some ways, refreshed hope in God’s plan being in motion is comforting. In others, it’s not.
Lately, many people in some of my circles, including me, have focused intently on God’s sovereignty. Although that is something that I firmly believe in, it’s not “comforting” to anyone unless we are also convinced of His eternal, never-changing goodness. An all-powerful Being who is not good, is frightening, to say the least. (As an inferior example, consider Hitler.)
Any suggestions of Scriptures that we can share with friends, and just meditate on for ourselves in the midst of this unfathomable horror, to remind us of God’s goodness COMBINED with His Sovereignty?
I think that’s the big trick, isn’t it – convincing someone of God’s goodness?
Ultimately, I think that’s the nature of original sin and the chief obstacle to saving faith: before Adam and Eve disobeyed, they disbelieved; they doubted God’s goodness.
Consider the words of Satan: “Did God really say…”, and how he went on to impugn God’s motives: “He knows you’ll be just like Him, and He can’t stand it.” (obviously paraphrasing here).
It sets up the situation where we become enemies of God rather than his friends — much less his children.
If a person truly believes in the core of his being that God is unquestionably, absolutely, infinitely good, then I think that’s a good indication that the power of sin is overthrown in that person’s life.
Back to the question: how do you bear witness to the goodness of God in a situation like this, especially when his sovereignty would seem to have prevented it in the first place?
It takes a Savior…
To pick up on Donna’s point… I often see Christians comforting one another with the truth that “God is in control of all things.” While this is certainly true, it kind of misses the point. The New Testament is full of examples of the Apostles encouraging and comforting persecuted and suffering believers. The content of their encouragement is always (as far as I know) in the promised return of Christ. This is the blessed hope of the believer. We can trust in this promise because we know that our sovereign God can make good on it. In the meantime, as long as Satan is the “god of this world,” (2 Cor. 4:4) this will be a messed up place. There is a real wrongness about it that we must accept. God Himself is angry about the state of affairs here. (Rom 1:18) But it is that wrongness that fuels our longing for Christ’s return.
I am often struck by my 5-year-old daughter’s bedtime prayers when she regularly asks Jesus to come back soon and take us all to heaven. In her simple prayer, she expresses the hope that I often lose sight of. I want to make the most of this world because I’ve come to love it too much. But in her simple faith, she trusts that the place Jesus has prepared for us is better than anything we have here.
As a church, I think we would do well by encouraging each other more with the reminder that Jesus is coming back for us and that all things will be made right.
Paul sums it up nicely in Romans 8…
Fantastic points. I would also add that we need to be led by the Spirit. I do not mean to sound trite or offer a quick cliché. The Spirit will give us words to say when words are tough to find. During these times we comfort ourselves with hope in God (according to His control now and coming soon), and we reach out to others by offering practical help. People who do not know Christ are not spiritual and deal with issues and life experiences in “earthly” ways, not in spiritual ways. Therefore, we reach out in “earthly” ways by meeting the practical, physical needs of people since they are our “neighbor” – anyone who God puts in our path in which we can meet a need (Luke 10:30-37). This may mean the giving of money, time, or just a listening ear, but it does involve us and transcends mere words.
Also, let’s remember that there are tragedies that happen every day, we just don’t see it as concentrated as the Tsunami. Pain and heartache are constantly throbbing to remind us that something is dramatically wrong with this world. We also should remember that Christ entered this system of pain and redeemed us by going through the ultimate expression of loss- death. In Christ’s atonement I find a God that not only understands tragedy, but ran to it in order to rescue us from a Christ-less life and eternity.
While we encourage our hearts in the plan of God and the coming of God we also reach out to others in practical ways appropriate to our level of ability to help.
Thanks for the interaction and great points to help followers of Christ process the tragic event of the last few days. May we run to the battle!