Today, the country woke up to what is being called the worst mass shooting in the history of the U.S. This on the day the Church also happens to celebrate the Memorial of the Guardian Angels, a reminder of a provident God who provides and cares for us by giving us our own personal spiritual guides and protectors. Ah, but how hard it is to see God's care and providence on a day such as this, fraught with such public tragedy, swiftly on the heels of so many other similar stories of violence, hate, threats, war, division, disasters, tragedy, and suffering. In a cold way, these stories are almost becoming part of our every-day life. These days, it seems much easier to see the work of the demons than the work of the angels.
So what are we to make of it all? Will faith in God, angels, and providence answer all the questions raging through our hearts and minds when such tragedies fall? The painfully honest answer is: probably not. But that's okay, and it's okay to acknowledge that we won't always get the answers we want on this side of mortality. But one thing is for sure: without God, there are no answers at all. Without God, this life is all there is. Without God, the violence wins.
Yes, God doesn't wrap up the answers to life's hardest questions in a neat little box for us; but without Him those hard questions are all that we have. The Psalms are filled with asking God the hard questions, lamentations over the greatest hardships and sufferings and the seeming absence of God's presence. This is different from complaining about God and why He isn't doing anything. This is taking the question to the source, facing it head on. And this, I believe, is the only way we can find any sense of peace in the midst of chaos. It is not to naively deny the difficult realities around us, nor is it to give in to gloom and despair. Rather, it is to take our questions to the only One with any answers at all. It's not just to ask where God is, it's to seek Him where he may be found.
As I write this, I was quite coincidentally listening to a song by the Christian rock band Jars of Clay called "All My Tears". I had no intention of including the song in this post, but as I was writing I was struck by the timeliness of its lyrics. "When I go, don't cry for me. In my Father's arms, I'll be. And wounds this world left on my soul, will all be healed and I'll be whole....It don't matter where you bury me, I'll be home and I'll be free. It don't matter where I lay, all my tears, be washed away." As people of faith, we are not naive to the tragedies of this world; but despite these tragedies, we live in hope, knowing that there is more for us, knowing that there is a place where all the wounds from this world will be healed, where our tears will be washed away, where the angels gaze on the face of God.
So don't give in to the darkness; live in the Light. But also don't be afraid to face God and ask Him the hard questions. Ask Him where He is, in the midest of all this tragedy. You never know, you may actually find Him.
