SOVEREIGNTY & TRAGEDY

by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, M.A.

Isaiah 25: 8 (NLT) “He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!”

These are difficult days. Earthquakes killing thousands. Hurricanes pounding the coast. Killers stalking schools, and now a Baptist church youth gathering. In such times, it can be easy to question: Is God here? Why doesn’t He do something?

In his masterpiece City Of God, Saint Augustine wrote: “God often shows His intervention more clearly by the way He apportions the sweet and the bitter. For if He visited every sin here below with manifest penalty, it might be thought that no score remained to be settled at the Last Judgment.” Lamentations 3:33 tells us: “He does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow (NLT).” Sometimes God allows tragedy as a reminder to us. If life here on earth was always carefree and joyous, who would work hard to live righteous lives in anticipation of heaven?

The promise of Isaiah 25:8 is that God has not forgotten us. He is here, and He does care, and He is looking forward to heaven as eagerly as we are. In fact, more eagerly. No more death, no more pain, no more tears. In the meantime, we need to live as Peter advised in 1st Peter 4:19, “So if you are suffering according to God’s will, keep on doing what is right, and trust yourself to the God who made you, for He will never fail you (NLT).”

Where does your heart go in the face of tragedy? Do you turn toward God or turn away? Do you strike out at God in anger, or run toward God’s waiting arms for comfort and peace? The Sovereign God of all creation weeps with you and aches to provide healing. As you ponder this, pray: Father God, you are sovereign. You are Lord and king of kings. Thank you for weeping with your people. Help me now to remember your promise to Jeremiah – “a future full of hope (29:11)” awaits in heaven.

© 2008 Bryan Thomas Schmidt/Anchored Music Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. No reproduction without written permission.