In Tragedy: God is Love

A mother and her two boys were found yesterday in the family's minivan dead, they were our neighbors (I can see there house from my front window).  Overwhelmed and shocked by the tragedy yesterday morning, we were led to a have a "prayer vigil" for our neighbors.  There were 24 of us plus kids crammed into our living room, sad, bewildered, overwhelmed, and suddenly awakened to the reality of our need for one another.  The father and husband who lost his family joined us and there was an outpouring of love, care, and concern for him.  As I continue to grow in the revelation "God is Love" this seemed in exact contrast to a God of love.  Yet I am convinced when darkness strikes, it is the silence of those who know the "Light" (God is light) that allow the darkness to grow.  Just the night before I was reading a book to my daughter "The Prayer of Protection" based on Psalm 91 where he quoted Isaiah 60:1-2 which says, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you."  As those who have the "light" we need to arise and shine, especially when the darkness seems to invade.

In the midst of a room of people impacted by tragedy, it was time to declare "God is Love" not loudly but simply to allow Him to shine through our family and our other believing neighbors.  The world though it is covered in deep darkness doesn't even understand why or how it happened, there is just simply continued agreement with the darkness.  Nothing dispels darkness but light and the true light is Jesus Christ and He is in us.  It is not so much our actions as our identity that brings light.  Of course actions that are life-giving and light filled come from an identity that is in agreement with the light within (Jesus Christ).  We are told in Scripture in Colossians 1:27 that, "...Christ in you, the hope of glory."

We naturally have a tendency to use our experience as the lens that we see God through, which when it is tragedy begins to deeply distort His character.  God reveals Himself as love through Jesus Christ and unless we are looking through His chosen lens we will have distorted view.  I believe knowing the nature of God is fundamental to us knowing who we are but also being able to show others who He is accurately.

In His Love,
Bret