Tragedy and God

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Psalm 145:8

I was in my early 20s when I went to the hospital to visit an elderly man in his 80s. He was alone and wanted his pain and suffering to end. “Why does God allow my suffering? Why doesn’t He just let me die?” he asked.

The natural mind immediately thinks that one of two things is true: Either God is weak, disinterested and too remote to step in and stop the tragedy, or else He is a powerful but harsh deity who pours forth His judgment on innocent people. But can either of those possibilities answer the whys?

The Bible declares that God is a loving God who is merciful and compassionate. Isaiah wrote, “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arms rule for him…He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40:10-11). Furthermore, 14 Old Testament references also speak of God as being compassionate.

At creation God put in effect physical laws that control nature. While God has the power to step in to supersede those natural laws (and He does on occasion), He usually does not. His power is instead reflected in the regularity of what happens, such as the sun rising and setting.

If God should spare us from the effect of those natural laws, then this would not be earth but heaven.

Ours is a broken world and we are affected by pain and suffering; that does not, however, mean that God is indifferent to what happens to us. In the midst of tragedies, He knows and He cares for us.