I didn’t have my radio on most of the day yesterday, so I heard no news during the day. On my drive home I was listening to a sermon, so I likewise missed the news. So when I got home one of the girls said something about Fort Hood, and I was confused about what she was saying.
Then I turned on the news.
Another violent shooting tragedy.
When I opened my web browser this morning, I saw an article I’d forgotten that I’d pulled up a couple days ago to read later: “A Violent, Vicious Cycle.” It chronicled two recent violent killings that seemed particularly senseless. One columnist is quoted as saying,
“This has got to stop,” Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote. But why doesn’t it? The cycle of death repeats itself again and again.
“The killing, the shock. The shouting, the weeping. The refreshed resolve to make it end. And then the urgency wanes.”
The urgency wanes. It wanes, in part, because so many have such inadequate answers and so few have relevant answers. What I said at a previous, similar event is still appropriate today:
- This is the reality of what unrestrained sin looks like and is the natural result of the work of Satan. He is a destroyer (1 Pt. 5:8) and a murderer (Jn. 8:44; 10:10a), and we should not be surprised (though it is a work of grace that we are, since it indicates that sin is still a horror to us) that those who live under his control, authority and domain do such things. This is not to suggest in any way that this shooter was demon possessed or part of a Satanic cult; it is simply to say that the ruler of this world influences this world with his objectives and desires, and his desire is destruction — which we saw far too graphically again yesterday.
- The suddenness of their deaths serves as a reminder to the realities of eternity — heaven and hell and the truth that all men will go to one place or the other (Rev. 22:11-15).
- Thus, the events of the week also serve as a reminder about the urgency of the gospel and the need for the clarity of the gospel. We do not know how much time we have. We must be clear, and we must be clear, now. We want to give saving truth, not pacifying words that will leave them comfortable now and condemned in hell later. Keith has been preaching the last three weeks about the gospel and evangelism. This circumstance is an opportunity for us to speak relevantly and precisely and hopefully about the only resolution to these sin circumstances.
- Even in this, there is an opportunity to glorify God. Job said it, didn’t he (in a situation not too dissimilar from what we’ve seen this week) — “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Situations like this will not destroy our worship; they will enhance it. That is why we intentionally sing the doxology when we remember events like this.
- God is sufficient to see anyone through any trouble (2 Pet. 1:3). What all men need is not so much the removal of trouble, but an awareness of the weight of glory that awaits those who trust in Christ (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Of course the common complaint in this circumstance often is, “how could God allow this? How could He let all these innocent people die?” Yet the greater and more penetrating question is, “why did He spare me? Why did He extend His grace on me another day and allow me to live?” Over the course of my life I have sinned enough against the standard of God’s perfection that He would have been fully just to have condemned me to hell decades ago. It is only because of grace and Christ that He spares me. I do not merit life; only His grace grants that life. That any on earth this morning awakened to life is a manifestation of God’s kindness and grace.
So even in this tragedy, there is opportunity for the gracious intermingling of both the gospel and gratitude.
Words of Grace 