Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 1 of 7)

It’s been 6 years since that horrible day in 2001 when the world was faced with the news that terror, on a massive scale, had penetrated the defenses of the mighty U.S.A. I can still remember getting the phone call from a Chinese friend in Malaysia, where my family had been living for less than 4 months. Because we did not own a television, I ran to his house, injuring myself in the process. I can still remember the horror I felt as I sat bleeding in my friend’s living room watching the live feed of the first tower collapsing to the ground.

What do we do when tragedy strikes our world? As Christians seeking to tell the world about an almighty loving God, how do we respond when 230,000 people are wiped out in one day by a tsunami? Do we have answers when terrorists fly airplanes into skyscrapers and secure government facilities, killing thousands? Do we know what to say or think when faced with other horrifying natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake? What about personal tragedies, on a smaller scale, like the death of a young wife and mother to cancer?

Many times, we don’t know what to say, or even think in response to events like these. Some of us will get very quiet when our friends or people at work start talking about the latest horrible tragedy in the world. What will I say? How can I talk about God being good when so much bad is happening to normal people? If I speak up, will I get it right? Will I be laughed at and scorned?

Pain, suffering, and death, in whatever form and on whatever scale is not something new in the world. The Bible, the very word of God, contains many examples of events that would provoke front-page headlines and outrage in today’s world. As Christians, we worship the God of the Bible.

• We worship the God who destroyed the entire cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.
• We worship the God of the exodus, who killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt in order to free the Israelites in Exodus 12.
• We worship the God who defeated the Amorites in Joshua 10:11..”The Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”
• We worship the God of Numbers 16 who sent a plague that killed 14,700 Israelites in response to the people’s complaining about God’s judgment on the 250 rebel chiefs of Korah who were opposing Moses in the desert.

Still, how are we supposed to understand these kinds of events from the Bible and from our own time? In the coming days, I’d like to examine the words of Jesus in Luke 13:1-9 for a response:

13 ¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ² And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶ And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ ⁸ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹ Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Ultimately, from this passage, we will learn that…

Tragedy, in whatever form, should cause all of us to consider our own sin, repent, and bear fruit for God’s glory.

More in Part 2…