My friend Rachel posted this beautiful response to Mike Huckabee’s video about last week’s tragedy. I am reblogging with her permission. Kyrie Eleison.
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I've seen the suggestion so many times now that somehow God wasn't there in the tragedy on Friday, or that somehow He let it happen — because of the godlessness of our country, because somehow we’ve “systematically removed Him.” While Huckabee is not without some valid things to say, I think the core of what he's saying does not reflect the truth at all.
I will tell you where God was: He was there the whole time. He was with those children, comforting them in their last moments, and with those teachers, giving them courage. He was weeping, and is still weeping with us. He did not cause this evil. And the idea that our country caused this evil is incredibly simplistic (not to mention very politically biased in the particulars). The problem of evil is much larger than that: it is both worldwide and in every single one of us. Following the Ten Commandments like Huckabee suggests won't get us anywhere, because in the end, we can't do it. The Law is not the solution, neither in the Bible nor for our country. We are completely and utterly broken, and we need a Savior.
This world is fallen and evil to the core, and we may never fully understand why things like this happen, but we know this: God did not, and has never, abandoned us. In the midst of our darkness and sorrow, in the midst of the evil of our entire fallen humanity, God did not leave us to our fate; He did not abandon us to our own destruction. Instead, He did the opposite. He came to us, and joined himself to us in the most incredible, unexpected way possible, in a way we remember at this time of year in particular: He became human, born as a baby, born into poverty, born into oppression, born into a life of sorrow. Through His life, the first human life to go against the grain of evil entirely, He is restoring humanity from the inside out. Through his death, every one of us is offered forgiveness and reconciliation. And through His resurrection, He has broken the power of death forever. Evil does not have the final word. He is making all things new. And someday, He will come back, and the world will be made whole again, and we will be fully healed, and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
In the meantime, we lament and we mourn and we grieve, for there is much that is wrong here, much that remains to be healed. And we pray for the grace to be light in this dark world, for we know we are no better than anyone else, and we depend on our Father. But things are changing, slowly yet surely, and it will not be this way forever. God is healing this broken world.
So all that to say, it is tempting in the face of tragedies like this to point the finger at others, particularly at those whose policies we disagree with, whether at certain people or an entire culture. Those of us who are Christians especially need to avoid this, for we of all people should know that, like G.K. Chesterton said, the problem with the world is “me.” We are all hopelessly lost and fallen, and none of us have the power to change things through our own efforts, but we have received grace, a grace that is extended to the world. Instead of pointing the finger, let us ask God for the power to weep with those who weep and comfort those who mourn, to provide for the widow and orphan and to help soothe the hurts of the world. Perhaps there are things we need to discuss as Christians and as a culture, but let us always remember that we have a God who loves the world, a God who is truly with us — “Emmanuel.”
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