Your Heavenly Father can be trusted
to take good care of those who put their faith in Him. The Bible makes it clear that the human experience is lived by faith in God. The actual path that we
all follow can often contain tragedy. Often, when we look back on a dark period
of suffering in our lives, we begin to discover that the awful journey we made
led us to a place of intimacy with the Almighty that we could never have
experienced otherwise.
Life can sometimes become a raging ocean of tragedy. It can drag us into the dark, merciless depths of depression. In the swirling confusion, we often cling to a shred of faith. Faith whispers that our Heavenly Father is there. He won’t leave us. That flickering flame of trust is all that gets us to eternal hope.
When the storm in our life ends, we can at last view all the
ways in which the gentle hand of a loving Heavenly Father was holding us the
whole time in the midst of our tragedy. Why specifically does a loving Heavenly
Father allow horrible, senseless evil to happen to innocent bystanders? Joseph
(the Prince of Egypt) had the attitude with his brothers that we should all
exemplify in times of tragedy:
“Even though you
intended to harm me, God intended it only for good, and through me, He
preserved the lives of countless people, as He is still doing today.” (Genesis
50:20, VOICE)
Scripturally, how
should we respond to tragedy?
1.
“Shoulder
each other’s burdens, and then you will live as the law of the Anointed teaches
us.” (Galatians
6:2, VOICE)
“Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.”
(Jesse Jackson)
2.
“Whatever
happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you
to do.” (1
Thessalonians 5:18, CEV)
“You may be going
through some major things at this moment in your life. But God is going to use
your Test as a Testimony for someone else! There is someone who just lost their
job or home, got a divorce or received bad news about their health that needs
to hear words of hope. Don’t keep it to yourself, today you can literally save
someone’s life by sharing your testimony.” (The Savvy Sistah)
3. “So I give you a new command: Love each
other deeply and fully.
Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others
in those same ways.” (John
13:34, VOICE)
“The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die
inside of us while we live.” (Norman Cousins)
“We don't even know how strong we are
until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy,
of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival
and renewal is awesome.” (Isabel Allende) [i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Not Again…”Sunday, October 8,
2017 Pastor Dave Jansen CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH. Adapted from: “Finding
Meaning in Tragedy” (https://www.gci.org/trials/tragedy)
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