Yesterday, Steven Curtis Chapman's (christian music artist) oldest son accidentally ran over and killed his youngest daughter. This is a horrible tragedy regardless of the fame of the family it happened to. What would Steven say to his oldest son? How would he feel about him? How does his oldest son feel? How long will he feel it? How about most of the family as they watch it happen? What do they feel toward the son that accidentally did this?
Hopefully, they rallied around him, prayed for him, was honest with him, and can support him.
However, why does this happen? Won't most people wonder how and why that happens to someone? Especially a family that proudly proclaims their love for God..?.. Why would God let that happen?
Does He let things happen or do we choose these things? Not every victim is protected from the one that assaults them. Not every believer in God is immune from the sinful (or accidental, in this case) actions of others. There is sometimes a hedge of protection around believers and sometimes not. Sometimes non-believers are protected and sometimes not. Is it fair to ask of God, "why?"
We are not puppets, we are not pieces on a game board of life. Just because God knows the number of our days doesn't mean that when the final day arrives, God is the one pulling the trigger. People are free. Free to hate God. Free to be ignorant. Free to make mistakes. Free to do whatever they want to. Free to love their mom and dad or free to hate them. That same freedom for us to choose is what makes it real when you love God. Because we aren't pawns, but have choices, is the only way that relationships are real. Right? You choose to love your wife. You choose to stay in that relationship. If you choose not to you are free to do so.
But, in the freedom of choosing there are consequences to those actions. If you are free to choose to kill someone, you are a slave to the consequence of that action. If you choose to be sweet to your wife, there may be very favorable consequences...or not depending on what she is free to choose to do in reaction to that. (And we all know how inconsistent women's decisions can be!! ;-) )
So, is God really the one to ask why? Did God do it? Does He allow it? Or, is the consequence of a world of free choices...slavery? Steven Curtis Chapman's son was free to be as careful or careless as he wanted to be. The 5 year old that was run over was free to be in harms way or not. The sum of the total of those freedoms equal a tragedy in this formula. Is it God's fault? Or in our freedoms do these things occasionally and sadly happen?
What are your thoughts?
3 comments:
My wife referred me to your post. We have had this same question numerous times. We wrestled with this question early in our marriage when my 30 year old brother in law, a christian husband and father left a young wife and 5 year old son shortly after being diagnosed with liver cancer. I think it is our nature to ask why. We have a God given curiosity and desire to learn, to understand and to reason.
However, I found the following scripture and additional explanation somewhat comforting. Not comfort for the grief or pain of a tragedy like the Chapman family. But comfort in knowing that I don't have to know why and what really matters is trusting in him.
(Rom. 11:33). “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (NASB)
"We must expect, therefore, to stand amazed in the presence of such matchless wisdom, and find problems in connection therewith which must for the time, at least, remain unsolved."
Evans, William ; Coder, S. Maxwell: The Great Doctrines of the Bible. Enl. ed. Chicago : Moody Press, 1998
So do I think it is wrong to ask why? NO. But I do think we must as you say "choose" to trust and surrender our quest for causality.
"Wingin it" in Arkansas
We know all things work together for our good...b/c He has promised it to be so even if we don't see it.
So, we praise Him for the good and we offer up a sacrifice of praise for the hard. And we trust in His holiness knowing that His thoughts and ways are so far beyond ours.
"O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are Your purposes and mighty are Your deeds." Jer 32:18-19
Love,
Your wife (who freely and happily chooses to love you!!)
What a brutal situation.
Is it wrong to ask "Why?" I think it depends. If it is a real desire to understand, then there would be no way it was wrong. However, sometimes that question is about something other than wanting answers.
Certainly we have some level of freedom. However, God could certainly stop a bad thing from happening if He chose to. He is in control of all things, and this is why He can "work all things together for the good of those who love Him." He is the One true and Sovereign God.
This said, the reason for tragedy is the sin we chose long ago. God allows it, but this is the bed that we have made. It is not always direct sin. A 5 year old darting out in front of a car could be nothing more than lack of understanding. A part on a car can break because sometimes material fails. In a "perfect world," the one we could have had, those things would not happen.
However, while these things are not God's fault, they are under His control. He allows the sinful world we chose to continue on for a time, and tragedy to happen, and to happen to those who are considered evil, and those who are considered righteous (by His grace).
The question about "why" can be a searching for answers. However, I believe that most people who ask why after such things don't really want that answer. They are expressing massive hurt, and a desire for things not to have been this way. In a situation like this, how could you not feel those things. Clearly, expressing that pain through this question would be alright to do.
However, deeper than that, in the heart of a follower of Jesus, can exist a strong sense, even through the greatest hurt and frustration and confusion and pain, that all is going to be alright, because God is still sovereign, still on the throne, and if He allows it, we can live with it. Things are often not like we want, but God's promise is to work it all out in a way that ultimately shows His glory and His goodness. We don't understand, but we trust - sometimes we feel like we need to scream and ask why, but deeper, we trust.
No easy answers, and sometimes no answers at all. The only thing we have left is trust.
Clearly one of the most difficult situations I could imagine.
Les
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