Beware of Simplistic Explanations
We may not know why painful and sad things happen but we do know that it Is NOT because God does not love us.
God’s love is immeasurably great and eternally unwavering; love has its origins in the God who IS love. To even begin to think that we can have a better understanding of love than God is absurd.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[1]
The cross is the only place where all issues of life, tragedy and death, make sense. From a solely human perspective, the crucifixion of Christ is the most painful and tragic event in the whole of history. God, in human form, completely innocent of any crime or sin, is painfully killed.
Luke when writing in Acts, tells us that the death of Christ was both the intentional plan of God AND the actions of evil men. [2]
God lovingly governed the crucifixion of Christ! The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was for God’s glory and our good. He dealt with the pervasive force of sin and annihilated sin’s judgement
We can clearly see the positive purpose and outcomes of that suffering at the cross.
We cannot explain individual human suffering, nor should we try, but we can KNOW God has loving purpose. We may never see an explanation as to why tragedy occurs in our own lives, or the lives of others, but we can know that God, who uses the death of His Son to redeem us in love, is trustworthy.
If our thinking, faith and living is not centred on the Cross, in this way, we cannot bear tragedy.
[1] Romans 8:35-39
[2] Acts 2:23-24; Acts 4:27-28