Virginia Tech Prayer Vigil

"Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told."

Habbakuk 1:5 (ESV)

Where is God in the midst of tragedy? I'm not going to pretend to say I have all the answers to a question like that. I do know that events like what happened at Virginia Tech do fall outside of God's power. Tragedy is no reason to jettison our belief in God. In fact, if there is no God...then there is only a material world. Injustice and suffering are just natural events. It would only be the survival of the fittest...yet, we all feel as if these things should not happen. Suffering cannot be a reason for abandoning God. Suffering is a problem for those who believe in God and those who do not. You cannot, however, be intellectually honest in ditching God because of tragedy.

This is how Habbakuk felt. He was questioning God in face of a difficult time. He questioned God's commitment to His people. He questioned God's faithfulness. And God responded, "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." From Creation, God has been at work unfolding a plan that will redeem His people from the grip of sin and death. This plan is for His glory. And everything in this plan points to his Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It points specifically to Jesus Christ and the suffering, injustice and tragedy of the cross.

God not only knows that we suffer. God knows what it means to suffer. John Stott wrote, "I could never believe in a God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who is immune to it?" God understands the pain of this world. He knows what it is like to suffer. When we wrestle with the question of "WHY" we can know that God understands.

As the Lord spoke to Habbakuk, the prophet's heart began to change. Habbakuk began to see that God was a work on something bigger than his present suffering. This didn't invalidate or remove his pain. It merely gave some perspective. The suffering still hurts. There is still injustice. Habbakuk, like us, still longs for iniquity, injustice, tragedy and suffering to be gone. But now he has some greater perspective. Habbakuk closes his book with these words:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield not food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Amen