Contemplating Tragedy

Over Christmas break, I spent a week with a group from a Bangkok Church doing Christmas programs in the towns hit by the deadly Tsunami of 2004. Through a translator, I was given numerous opportunities to talk about Jesus with people who had never known anything about the real meaning of Christmas. These are people whose lives have been forever changed by the deaths of their friends and family on that day 5 years ago. The beach resorts have been rebuilt and the sunburned tourists have returned, but the wounds and the trauma have not faded from the hearts of the people.

I also recently visited another disaster zone, but this one was caused by the deliberate and cruel actions of men. It was the location of the central prison and torture facility of the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Today, it is a museum that documents the cruelty of the atrocities carried out there by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's when they took over Cambodia. The genocide perpetrated by the regime took the lives of nearly 2 million people. The displays at the museum (pictures of dead bodies, display cases of human skulls) turned my stomach, but the government wants to make sure that the brutality of those years is not forgotten and hopefully never relived.

These two places have endured very different but equally devastating disasters. The question that the people ask in each place is the same, "Why?" Some faiths would answer that it was simply fate. Others would say that the gods were angry and this was punishment for sinful living. Some say there’s no reason at all. Would these responses bring you comfort if you were the one asking “Why…?”

As Christians we are assured that God is sovereign over all that happens. The Tsunami, Khmer Rouge, 9-11, and the present financial crisis did not sneak up on him by surprise. Paul tells us in Ephesians that God “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (1:11). God permits and plans all things so that his ultimate purposes triumph.

A great example from Scripture is the story of Joseph. Here is a guy that gets sold into slavery by his own brothers! Yet, God guides events so Joseph ends up in a position of power and influence where he can save his brothers from a future famine. When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers years after the cruel betrayal he tells them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen 50:20).

We don’t know exactly how God will work through each tragedy. Each instance is unique, but we can say confidently to every person that HE IS working and the result will be the advancement of his good and perfect plan. This brings meaning to our suffering and that should give us the strength to endure faithfully.

(Sorry for the rant, but I just needed to process my own thoughts about these places and events.)

God Bless