When tragedy strikes

Jas 1:2-4   Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

I have been around long enough to know that life is not always constant. No two days are the same. With each new day comes different set of challenges and problems. There is no such thing as a trouble free life here. We are all prone to disappointment, misunderstood, adversity and hardship. If you want a trouble free life you might as well leave this earth because Jesus said in John 16: 33 in the world you will have tribulation.

Back in the first century, Christians were persecuted because of their belief in Jesus. They have no problem with suffering because they esteem dying for Christ as more desirable than their own lives and comfort. They literally count it all joy when faced with difficulties.

In those days Christian leaders rejoiced over the scars on their maimed bodies as a testimony of their devotion to the LORD and also to their office. Remember the apostle Paul mentioned about the 40 minus 1 strips on him to silence his critics that he doesn't qualify for the apostleship. Action speaks louder than words then. It is strange that in today’s modern Christianity the opposite has taken place. A life with God without suffering is commonly preached. And personal comfort is more desirable than going through inconvenience for the sake of gospel.

Few weeks back I have some problems relating to my colleagues at work. Sometimes people can be rude and mean but for me I choose to forgive despite being mistreated. There will always be contentions, misunderstanding and problems when working with people. No one is perfect anyway.

Recently more than 14,340 have died and 11,889 are still missing due to a massive earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan. Who would have predicted that so many people lost their lives in a modern and advanced country like Japan? Tragedies can happen at anytime and anyplace.

A few years ago, a Christian couple with their children met with a road accident on the way back from ministering in a church in Johor. The couple and their children died in the accident. David Wilkerson, a prominent Christian leader who authored the book The Cross and The Switchblade had a road accident and died recently. It is sad to hear that the worst can also happen to God’s people. It is wrong to conclude that only the evil and wicked are liable for the worst calamity. It can happen to anyone.  

The worst atrocity in history must be the Holocaust that took place during Hitler Germany. More than six million Jews were massacred and butchered by the Nazi in concentration camps all over Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and other German occupied territories. Very few ever survived to tell the tale of the ordeal. Where was God during the most tragic period of the Jewish history? Has He forsaken the people whom He has loved dearly?

No one fully understands why everything happened the way it happened. Why innocent people has to suffer? Why God did permit the Holocaust to take place? But looking back, sometime good has come out of the disasters of the Holocaust. The Jewish nation was born out of adversity.

For more than two thousand years, the Jews were without a homeland. They were scattered all over Russia, Eastern Europe and North America. Most of them have virtually lost their identity and attachment with their ancestral land where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob once lived.  But after the Holocaust, the Jewish people saw the importance of coming back to their ancestral homeland and the survival as a people. So the nation of Israel was born in 1948. God turned something meant for evil to be good.

We may not fully understand the reasons for our sufferings when tragedy strikes. It is easier to blame God for a tragedy and harbor hurt, anger and bitterness in our hearts. Like Job in the Bible we may question God and His justice for allowing tragedy to happen to us. How could God allow such a thing to happen to me?

The key to our healing and restoration is refusing to become hurt and angry against God in the midst of our suffering. We may not understand everything but still worship God even with our questions. 

David was anointed as king over Israel but he didn't reign until much later. It never occurred to him that he must suffer as a fugitive, fleeing from the hands of Saul. In spite of all this, David ministered to the LORD. He didn't harbour bitterness against God for the ordeal he went through. David knew how to strengthen himself in the LORD at the lowest point of his life. Isaiah 40: 31 Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength. He moved on with God and God was with him. 

Never allow hurt or bitterness to stop us from moving on with God. He may reveal the reasons for our suffering or He may not. But if He doesn’t, trust Him that He is in control and He knows best how to handle our situation. God can turn something meant for evil to be good for us.

A year ago I had a vision from the LORD while worshipping the LORD in church. I saw multitudes and multitudes of saints praising God with the song, “I love You LORD”. Then a revelation came to me that the saints were singing to the LORD out of deep appreciation for what He has done for them during the times of crisis and adversity despite not fully understand the reasons why, but now has been revealed to them. One day we will all understand fully the mystery of suffering and appreciate Him for all He has done for us in the midst of our sufferings. God is truly awesome.