Originally posted on November 6, 2017
Like so many other things in life, this just doesn’t make any sense. This was just pointless. On Sunday, November 5, Devin Patrick Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs and just started shooting. Apparently this wasn’t racially motivated or religiously motivated. Kelley’s beef was with his in-laws. They were members of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. But ironically, the in-laws were not even in attendance on Sunday. So Kelley just walks into this church and starts shooting people randomly.
You can’t make any sense out of this. So don’t try. One crazy, evil, disturbed person with a weapon can do a lot of damage. It isn’t any more complicated than that. Some will ask, “But why does God allow such things to happen?” There is no complete answer to this. And this is nothing new. There have been world wars, 9/11, the holocaust and thousands of other atrocities throughout history. Since God created us with a free will, that means that we have the freedom to choose to do evil. And God won’t stop us. And people will suffer because of it. But that all started in the Garden of Eden. Mankind has been suffering because of Adam’s sin for thousands of years.
Romans 8: 28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
I believe that a loving God allows wicked people to do unimaginable evil. But for those of us who know the Lord, even under horrendous circumstances, God can still produce something positive. We may never understand the good that God is doing, but I believe His word, and I trust my heavenly Father. To choose not to believe this would mean that God allows everything to happen randomly. Or it would mean that there is no God at all. Tragedies make some people angry at God. Or, it they make them doubt God altogether. For me, tragedies make me cling to Him. Does this answer all of our questions? No. But it answers some. And I simply choose to trust God when I can’t explain everything else.