This week has been full of grief and pain and questions for the Union University community. (See this article if you don't know what I'm talking about.) However, it has also been a week full of love and grace and support.
God has been showing me what it means to trust and praise him even when I don't understand and can't wrap my mind around the circumstances. He is teaching me what true faith looks like. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." In reality, this sounds crazy. Who wants to depend on something they can't see? However, on the other hand, this kind of faith allows us to rest in truth rather than fight to have all the answers.
I believe that the book of Job teaches us that God allows tragedies to happen to his people in order to bring glory to himself and ultimately good to his people. If you're not familiar with the story, you should read it. Long story short, God allows Satan to bring terrible tragedy in Job's life because Satan claims that Job only fears God because he is blessed with much. Satan essentially takes everything from Job and inflicts unbearably painful sores on his body. Job's friends tell him that he should curse God and die, but Job has unwavering faith in God. Job laments his status, sure, but he refuses to curse God. Seriously, read the story. It's incredible. Anyway, after Job stood the long and horrible test, God made him twice as prosperous as he was before. Out of great trial came great blessing, and God was glorified because his servant remained faithful.
As Christians, we have the opportunity to stand firm in our faith even when we don't have the answers. Our response can cause the world to look at us and want the hope that we have. In times like this, it's hard to wrap our minds around the sovereignty of God. In the Psalms, David says that God doesn't slumber or sleep; God wasn't snoozing when our student died. He allowed it to happen. If we believe that God is ever present and all knowing, we have to believe this. How can we believe this and also believe that God is love? I can't answer this well enough to even try, and I'm okay with that. I respond to questions like these with truth. John writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that God is love. So it's true. David writes that God is good, that his love endures forever. So it's true. Maybe I don't see it clearly right now, but it's true. This is my point. God is glorified when we trust him, even praise him, even when we can't answer every hard question our minds or other people throw at us.
God is also glorified in the way we love each other through all of this. It has been heartbreaking to watch friends grieve and suffer but incredible to watch this campus respond with such love and grace. God promises that he works all things together for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). That's us! He brings beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3). He makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And that is what he is doing. He is turning the ugly into the beautiful, the tragedy into the victory, in his time, in his way.
What has happened is not something we would ever ask for. But it has happened. So now we cope, firmly believing that God is working for his glory and our good, even when we don't know what that will look like in the end.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
For friends who have been directly impacted by the death of Olivia, know that I mourn with you. I have literally cried for you (that's rare...feel special). I pray for you often. If you need someone to run an errand for you, bring you cookies, take you out for coffee, whatever, let me know.
God has been showing me what it means to trust and praise him even when I don't understand and can't wrap my mind around the circumstances. He is teaching me what true faith looks like. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." In reality, this sounds crazy. Who wants to depend on something they can't see? However, on the other hand, this kind of faith allows us to rest in truth rather than fight to have all the answers.
I believe that the book of Job teaches us that God allows tragedies to happen to his people in order to bring glory to himself and ultimately good to his people. If you're not familiar with the story, you should read it. Long story short, God allows Satan to bring terrible tragedy in Job's life because Satan claims that Job only fears God because he is blessed with much. Satan essentially takes everything from Job and inflicts unbearably painful sores on his body. Job's friends tell him that he should curse God and die, but Job has unwavering faith in God. Job laments his status, sure, but he refuses to curse God. Seriously, read the story. It's incredible. Anyway, after Job stood the long and horrible test, God made him twice as prosperous as he was before. Out of great trial came great blessing, and God was glorified because his servant remained faithful.
As Christians, we have the opportunity to stand firm in our faith even when we don't have the answers. Our response can cause the world to look at us and want the hope that we have. In times like this, it's hard to wrap our minds around the sovereignty of God. In the Psalms, David says that God doesn't slumber or sleep; God wasn't snoozing when our student died. He allowed it to happen. If we believe that God is ever present and all knowing, we have to believe this. How can we believe this and also believe that God is love? I can't answer this well enough to even try, and I'm okay with that. I respond to questions like these with truth. John writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that God is love. So it's true. David writes that God is good, that his love endures forever. So it's true. Maybe I don't see it clearly right now, but it's true. This is my point. God is glorified when we trust him, even praise him, even when we can't answer every hard question our minds or other people throw at us.
God is also glorified in the way we love each other through all of this. It has been heartbreaking to watch friends grieve and suffer but incredible to watch this campus respond with such love and grace. God promises that he works all things together for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). That's us! He brings beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3). He makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And that is what he is doing. He is turning the ugly into the beautiful, the tragedy into the victory, in his time, in his way.
What has happened is not something we would ever ask for. But it has happened. So now we cope, firmly believing that God is working for his glory and our good, even when we don't know what that will look like in the end.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
For friends who have been directly impacted by the death of Olivia, know that I mourn with you. I have literally cried for you (that's rare...feel special). I pray for you often. If you need someone to run an errand for you, bring you cookies, take you out for coffee, whatever, let me know.
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