What a week!
This past week, I was glued to the TV. Horrific images of explosions and the stories in their aftermath were being played over and over again. First, the Boston Marathon. Then, the explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, TX. One disaster was man-made and of nefarious intent. The other an accident. Together, 18 lives were lost, and many others touched or scarred forever.
We will hear (if we haven’t already) the questions of many, both people of faith and people who profess no faith, asking “Why!?” Sometimes this question is placed on God’s lap to answer.
Sometimes we demand that our religious leaders defend God or explain God’s thinking or purposes as in the following question posed to Rob Bell about the earthquake in Japan in a 2011 interview on MSNBC: “Which of these is true: Either ‘God is all powerful, but He doesn’t care about the people of Japan and therefore they’re suffering’ or ‘He does care about the people of Japan, but He is not all powerful.’ Which one is it?”
What do you think?
Are these the only two options? Are there others?
We all suffer at some point in our lives or we will definitely be in a position to support someone else who is suffering. How do we help them? Do we just shrug our shoulders and say something like “That must be God’s will” or “God has a plan”?
This Week
As you read the Scriptures below, return to these questions throughout this week. Maybe pose your own.
Talk with others to see how they reconcile these things. Feel free to comment on my blog or where this link is posted on Facebook.
This is a time for us to bear witness from our own faith.
From our minds, yes. But also from the depths of our hearts.
Epicurious Lutheran 