There are few things that shock me anymore. Having my eyes opened by grace more than eighteen years ago, and having them opened further still through Scripture’s wisdom all during these ensuing years, I have come to the conclusion that human beings are capable of the most audacious actions. My heart, like your own, is broken over the horrific mass murder in Newtown Connecticut… but I am not surprised by it in the least. When I hear of genocide in Syria, oppression in North Korea, famous ministers exposed for child molestation in America’s heartland or the sex-trafficking in Atlanta I am sickened but no longer shocked. We humans are capable of extreme generosity, sacrifice, love, charity and honor as we live our lives for higher good. Yet, let there be no mistaking that we are equally capable of the most vile of words, thoughts and actions. Although I am rarely surprised anymore by what we are capable of doing I must say that there is one aspect of human nature that occasionally baffles me. What is it? How easily we blame God for all the fallout which occurs when we choose to live in contradiction to His own ways. I am not the first to recognize the irony of this. The wisest man in our Old Testament, King Solomon, once wrote,
“When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.” – Proverbs 19:3 {ESV}
This is how it plays out: God, in gracious love, reveals a beautiful pathway for our lives upon which He commits to accompany us. We choose somewhere within the process to deviate from that pathway – it is too narrow, it is too boring, it is too confining, it denies me what I desire, very few people travel on this path, it seems too difficult – and so we embark in a different direction according to our own wisdom. As we carve out our own pathway we mindlessly dismiss God to carry on without us on His prescribed route. We think we know better. When we choose our own independent way we soon enough begin to encounter all manner of challenges. We adjust, recalibrate, alter our stride, make changes…but we still do not join God on the path He has opened to us. We go at it alone. Our families usually go along with us. They are following us as we are following….well, we assume we are following something…someone – no matter, we are confident that our own way is the best way. The further we walk on our own the more we begin to experience things which leave us weakened, hollow, confused, afraid and in peril. God speaks to our hearts but we decline His invitation yet again. We are bound and determined to continue on as we see fit, knowing in our hearts that we will eventually arrive at some satisfying spot. Soon we have moved very far in an alternate direction from what God offers and we no longer hear God calling us to His pathway. We forget that He ever once invited us to join Him in a different way. Many around us seem to be walking a similar pathway to ours so we cannot all be wrong – can we? Time passes, things remain the same, occasionally there is hope but more often than not there is uncertainty. And then…out of nowhere…crisis arrives…trouble hits…tragedy strikes.
And we are suddenly aware that we are all alone. We now see that God seems nowhere near. Calamity has fallen and we are wounded, vulnerable and sorely afraid.
It is in this moment that the foolishness of the human heart is clearly seen. This is the place where so many cry out that God was unreliable, God was not true, God surely must not be good if He allowed this to happen, God is the cosmic tease who has unquestionably let us down. We forget that He once offered us to follow Him. When we declined that offer and determined to go our own way apart from Him, He refused to follow along with us, as if He could endorse our foolish choices. So we become angry. Bitterness sets in. Hostility towards the Almighty is added to our life-menu as today’s featured dish. We did not believe God was good enough to follow, honor or obey yet we cry out in hypocrisy that we believed Him good enough to prevent us from ever reaping what we sowed. As Solomon says above of the one whose independence from God led to trouble, “…his hear rages against the Lord.”
No, I am not shocked when we do wrong. I am not shocked when repercussions follow us in our wrongdoing. If I am ever shocked at all it is when we audaciously blame God for not preventing what we ourselves brought about. It is the equivalent of me punching a heavyweight boxing champ in the nose and then crying foul when I wake up from his knockout punch with my eye swollen and blackened. Men and women, let’s be people of integrity. When or if we choose to deviate from the Lord, let us not prove ourselves fools by feigning surprise at what comes after. He welcomes you to follow Him upon a path of blessing and promise. He allows you to choose whether or not to do so. If you choose to go your own independent way and find yourself suffering the consequences… please…please…please: don’t point your feeble finger of accusation at the Almighty. Instead, lift up both hands in broken surrender and ask Him to take you up and carry you to His path. It’s the place He meant for you all along.
Loved what you had to say here. It must be noted that this truth applies not only in the context of each person’s individual choices, but also in a universal way to the whole of mankind. On many occasions the Lord allowed for the nation of Israel to receive the just and painful consequences of rebellion and idolatry. And when He did that, there were those whose heart’s were fully devoted to Him that were not exempted from the very real calamities that God sent upon the nation.
There may not be a direct corelation between the sin of those in Newtown CT and the tragedy that took place. However, universally, we sinful people, are reaping the ugly reward of our godless actions and wicked hearts.
I also would want to add to the discussion that, mostly likely, some of those whose children (or parents) were killed were Christians who deeply loved the Lord and who have chosen to walk the ‘narrow road’. And yet, they too have suffered immense loss. Did God forget them? Do these genuine followers of Christ have a right to shake their fist at God. Did He renig on the deal? Ultimately we/they have to trust that God is good and that He is sovereign. When the Lord chooses to allow horrendous grief to befall His own Children, we must conclude that there is a redemption of some kind that is taking place. Really, that is the story of Christmas.