It's so sad
This
week a little girl and her dad were killed in a bizarre incident. The estranged
Mom and dad had a friend they knew. This friend killed the dad and little girl.
What’s worse is that he also did unspeakable things to the child. My wife
always says “It’s so sad.” Yes, tragedies like what happened this week are so
sad. I think the sad part is that we have seen this thing before and it’s not
improving out there.
People love to say the Bible is all
about bad news. God creates people and then God throws out people because they
sinned. God smites evil doers. God does all these seemingly bad things to innocent
people? Well no, they are not so innocent. The end of the Bible says that
things on earth will go terribly wrong. Women will eat their children and
plagues will rise. There will be earthquakes and death all around us. What do
you see today?
I find it interesting that people
believe times are bad. Why do they say that? What is worse that Hitler during World
War II or the Black Plague in Europe? Moms have killed there kids. Earthquakes
have rocked all the continents. We have tsunamis, terrorism, and plagues. Maybe
times have always been bad. We take the Bible out of the judiciary and schools
but we complain things have gone wrong. Now we have more gangs and more
violence in our youth than ever before (so they say). Does the absence of God
make our lives better or worse?
What does God have to say about sad
times? I will give a few examples. Exodus 15 26 says “The LORD said, "If you are careful to obey the LORD your God, do
what God thinks is right, pay attention to his commandments, and keep all of
his regulations, then I won't bring on you any of the diseases that I brought
on the Egyptians. I am the LORD who heals you."
Jerimiah
29:11 “For I know the plans that I have
for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give
you a future and a hope.”
God has the ability to stop trouble. Jesus says in
Matthew 6 that it rains on the wicked as much as on the righteous. The scripture
above shows that God wants us to listen and be part of what He is doing on
earth. When things go wrong it’s usually because someone chose not to listen.
Someone chose to do what is wrong in the eyes of the Lord. In Luke 19 Jesus
approaches Jerusalem and cries because they don’t seem to know that God is
still here. I feel that God is in that same place today.
The other day Calgary city council
voted to invoke security measures for the first time ever in their meetings. They
said times are not the same as they used to be. Are we ok with times being not
what they used to be. What did they used to be? I know some say moms stayed at home,
men did most of the work, and families went to church. That is so archaic and
so backwards. People cared for politicians and the police. We looked to space
and looked to God for our dreams to come true. Today
we install metal detectors in schools. We run gang programs and abuse
counseling. There is no space program.
There were 316 murders in Detroit in
2013. In Calgary last year there we about 30 murders and we have almost double
the population. This year there are 76 shootings and I’m stunned. For Detroit,
that might be normal, but for here that is certainly not normal. When I was
young a shooting or death happened a few times. I don’t recall that much
trouble. I know I was young. Still we did not need a buddy system to walk to
school.
Is it possible that the loss of God
in schools is proportionate to crime in our communities? God is not a policeman
but he does incite forgiveness, love, caring, and compassion in his people. As a
Christian, I think this way. I think about my actions towards others. I think
about my conduct in public and private. These days we are in an entitlement society.
The violence is so sad because kids think they rule and are entitled to rule. The
problem is that nobody is telling them it’s wrong. If people would only listen,
maybe, just maybe, things might get better.
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