Where is God in the midst of the Virginia Tech Massacre?

I know some of you are thinking about that question. Maybe some of you have uttered it aloud. And it is times like these that people start wondering how a loving God could let a tragedy like this happen.

I can relate. Two tragedies had me asking this question. The first was the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995. I covered it for my college newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, when I was just 20. The other was the May 3, 1999, tornadoes that included the largest tornado ever recorded. I was working for the American Red Cross at the time. I was 24 and saw some horrible things that most people never see.

I can relate to wondering where God is in tragedy and disaster. I can relate to being so angry that you have to have answers to why He let something like this happen. I was so angry after the tornadoes that I literally shook my fist at God and demanded to know where he was.

Strangely, God answered me. I didn’t expect that. He didn’t answer me all at once or right away, but he did answer. The first thing he did was put a friend in my path who believed God was loving. She invited me to church to get my questions answered.

I went in that first day with my arms crossed determined to prove that God wasn’t really so loving. I mean, if he were, how could he let this happen.

But instead, God used that church to speak to me in a way I have never been spoken to. And again, it wasn’t all at once. It was always just enough to have me come back the next week.

Skip ahead now eight years. God has been answering my question about tragedy and disaster – as well as many other questions – on a regular basis. And what I have learned is that it isn’t so easy. The answers aren’t so cut and dried.

But there are some things I have come to understand during my search for answers. And this terrible event at Virginia Tech that resulted in the death of 33 people has reminded me where God is at times like these.

God is right here. He is right here by my side. He is right by yours, too, whether you acknowledge Him or not. And you are wondering, I know you are, how can I be so sure?

I am sure because I believe His words in the Bible are real and true. And God promises us he is with us. In the book of Matthew in the New Testament, Jesus says, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

You are also wondering, I know you are, how a loving God could allow such a disaster, any disaster to happen. I will speak more on this topic in my next article, but let me shortly address this question. Evil exists in our world, plainly and simply. And with evil comes evilness. What happened Monday was evilness.

And maybe you have watched the news or read articles. But God’s name has come up much more than normally. People who don’t pray are praying. People who don’t seek answers from God are seeking answers. People who don’t normally love each other are coming together in unity and compassion. God, as He always does, is using a horrific event to do some really wonderful things. In the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 28 in the New Testament, it says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

This is God’s promise that he will use really bad things in positive ways. I have seen this first hand over and over. In fact, this very principle is what led me to seeking God in the first place. In the Oklahoma City Bombing, a sheer act of evil that killed 168 people but changed lives of thousands of others, I saw first hand acts of kindness that changed my life. I saw people offering the clothes off their back and shoes off their feet to rescue workers. I saw people come to Oklahoma City to help, at their own expense. I found a place with people so kind and wonderful, that they wanted to feed me, give me warm clothes and pray for me, when I didn’t even know that’s what I needed.

So I am not saying there is anything so good that will happen that will justify even one life lost. That is not the case. Life is precious. But the lives lost are not wasted.

When I watched the pictures of the dead scroll across the screen last night, I wept. I was so sad for the families and friends of the murdered. But I also knew that each person had a story. And now it is a story millions will know. And even though most were very young, the very thought of their loss will send people, like you, on a search for answers to why and how and who could do this.

Good will prevail. Families will be drawn together. Strangers will love each other. As a nation mourns, God will be lifted to a place of importance and immediacy. Some will find God as a result of this disaster. Maybe it will be you. Maybe it will be in 10 years, but, like me, you will look back at a time of uncertainty and anger and see your search for why started on April 16, 2007. Like mine started on April 19, 1995.

Keep on looking for answers to your questions. And if you want to submit a questions to me I will gladly take a stab at it. I am not a Bible scholar or a Bible expert in anyway. I am just one person with a passion.

In the New Testament book of Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

Copyright Michelle Sutherlin, April 20, 2007