Where was God in Newtown? We have asked that question many times in the last few days. It’s hard to see Him through evil tragedy. He didn’t show up miraculously, like He sometimes does, holding back the gunman’s hand.
Where was God in Newtown? We have heard a couple of different answers proposed from our public religious leaders. Some have simply said that God is gone. We abandoned God, so God abandoned us. We kicked God out of our schools, so God left. Others have said that this evil event happened as the judgment of God, almost painting the picture that God was the one pulling the trigger. James Dobson and Mike Huckabee have both used a mixture of these thoughts in their public statements. (It should be noted that Huckabee has since toned down his rhetoric somewhat.)
These comments must be called out as the unChristian garbage that they are.
So where was God in Newtown, then? He is where God always is-with the oppressed, the victim, the suffering. Jesus spent his whole earthly life with those who were abused, oppressed and victimized. Hebrews tells us that through his suffering, he feels the suffering of us all. When we care for the oppressed and hurting, Jesus told us, we are actually caring for Him. How? Because he is there with them in their pain.
No, God didn’t leave us at Newtown. God wasn’t pulling the trigger on those children. He was on the other end of the gun, taking the bullets right alongside those kids. And he is with the families as they grieve their unspeakable loss. I pray during this week as we celebrate God’s presence in our world, that these families would feel him in a new and powerful way.
The Many Faces Of Truth 