Tragedy
Psalm 11:4 (Audio Only)
I want to talk about tragedy. I’ve been overwhelmed with some tragedies lately.
A little over two weeks ago, I was out of town doing the work of the ministry, but away from the flock. I got a call. Carrie Boisse’s twenty-two-year-old son, Derrick, stepped off the curb at the wrong moment and was instantly, at least brain-function-wise, lost to this world. But it took four days for his physical body to catch up with – we believe – his spirit. We’re not sure exactly when that happens.
I was fortunate, and I say that in a difficult way, to be with Carrie and the family in a grueling, what seemed like eternity time as we waited for Derrick’s body to be released from the normal functions of this life. I was grateful. But it was grueling. Not near as grueling on me as it was on Carrie.
I’ve stood by a lot of hospital beds as people make the transition from life to eternal life, but when it is the result of an unexpected tragedy, it’s different. The pain is numbing, and the questions to God are whirling. It was grueling because I needed answers. That’s my job, to give them. And they don’t come easy when a twenty-two-year-old son is laying there. But there are answers.
But I told my wife when I finally got home the next day that was one of the most painful, difficult things I have ever experienced.
You guys just prayed, some of you daily, for our son David to be returned safely from the front lines of Afghanistan, and for seven months God chose to protect him. Miraculously. And it seems like suddenly I’m standing with another son the same age that just tried to cross the street. So, it’s a difficult mix of emotions for me.
Yesterday I was away, teaching the Bible again at a men’s conference, and I had just gotten home, about five yesterday afternoon. And I was making a smoothie for my granddaughter, something she loves almost as I do, I think.
We were mixing up some fruit, and my wife screamed in the other room. Breezy yelled my name, “Dad!”, to get me to shut the blender off. They were both on the floor. And Breezy had picked the phone up, and heard from Pam’s parents, that Pam’s sister, Lynn and her son Douglas, and six other young adults were in a car in Medford, Oregon. And the car rolled. And three kids lost their lives, including our twenty-year-old nephew, Douglas.
Some of you know Douglas. He stayed with us last summer and you guys got to know him. He worked here. He served here. He grew up in the Lord around here and he’s a great kid. I’ve known Lynn since she was about ten, and though they’re in Medford, we’ve always been knit-together with them, as you would be.
So, Lyn had piled some kids in their car and was taking them down to the swimming hole to go swimming. And something went wrong. And instantly, three kids, under twenty are snatched from this world. The others are still in the hospital along with my sister-in-law, Lynn.
And I have some experience with after the information has hit, that’s when they call me, after they get the call. But reflecting back on yesterday, I don’t have that much experience with getting the call. And my family went into shock just as Carrie and Gerry’s family did, and maybe as your family has. And we’re still in it.
I’m here today to share it with you because I couldn’t finish the message I was going to teach. I struggled with God for a couple of hours, “God, what do I do? Do I just go teach Acts Chapter 4? Do a take my family’s personal grief and share it publicly? What am I supposed to do here?” I really believe that God called me to get some answers and to share them.
Honestly, primarily, right now, share them with my family, but two are still in too deep of shock to be here. And Lynn and Pam’s parents are in grave shock in Oregon. And so, I am sharing for my family – those who are here and those who aren’t – and I pray that you would be ministered to, Gerry and Carrie, and others who have experienced tragedy, today.
When tragedy hits us, it stops everything. It’s like time stands still. You don’t look at the clock anymore. You don’t care. You’re not sure what the deadline is or why it’s important, and so you stop thinking about it. All your plans come to a screeching halt. Four or five hours later, the half-mixed smoothie is still on the counter, and no one has even noticed. You’re arrested by tragedy.
The question is, where is God? And my prayer is we can see him today.
I want to thank Max Lucado for helping me with this message because my family and I have been in shock.
When the phone call comes and everyone ends up on the floor, at that moment, there are no answers. Nobody is speaking, nobody should be speaking, and you have to know before that phone call comes, you have to know some things. In that moment you go numb. Your mind stops working, physiologically, things start shutting down and you can’t put thoughts together. You’ve got to have a foundation in your life that is strong, that is sure, and that you can fall on when you fall. That’s what we needed yesterday. That’s what we need today.
And it seems like there’s nothing we can cling to, except what Psalm 11 says,
Psalm 11:4 (NLT)
4 But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth.
God is unaltered by our storms, by our tragedies. He is not in shock. He is in his holy Temple. He still rules from heaven. He is ruling in heaven and he is watching. He is in the midst examining every person. He knows the very intimate details of what you’re feeling. When you can’t speak, God’s there. When you don’t think he’s there, he’s still in charge. He’s still on the throne, he still rules.
Your world has been rocked, but God’s world is never rocked. And he never loses control, he never loses being in charge – we do. He doesn’t. And so, we’ve got to know that when we’re sitting on the ground trying to make sense of what just happened that we can’t even get strength in our knees. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve fallen on the right foundation.
I need to tell you, if you don’t know, dark times come into every life on this earth. Every. Single. Life. What you’ve got to know, prior to that tragedy, prior to the tribulation that Jesus promised you, is that God is in his holy Temple. You’ve got to know that he is still ruling from heaven. And you’ve got to trust him. You have a trustworthy God. You can’t trust in chariots or horses. You can’t trust in the things of this earth. You can’t trust in your own logic or reason. You can’t trust in your own strength. It’s not by might. It’s not by power. It’s by his Spirit.
The problem is that God is operating on a plane that is so far removed from you, that you can’t get there from where you’re at. Isaiah 55 tries to explain it.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. Why are you on the ground trying to reason with me?” Guys, when tragedy strikes, the first thing you do is say, “Why?” And you say it over, and over, and over again. And you’re not really expecting an answer, you’re just conveying the groaning of your heart. And it’s okay to say, “why?” But know this: you can’t handle the answer. I don’t mean you can’t handle it as in it’s too hard for you, I mean you’re not capable. You don’t have God’s omniscience. You’re not his peer. You can’t have his answer. But you can trust he has one. And you can trust it’s higher than any one answer that you could come up with. And you can trust it’s different than any answer you could come up with.
What you’ve got to know is that God is still on the throne in heaven and he is still in charge. He is still ruling. And his thoughts are nothing like yours. It’s not on your plane. He can’t share the reason with you because you can’t understand it. But he can share himself with you. You can understand him. And you can trust him.
We think this life is everything. God knows better. We think, “God, please, make the most of this life.” God says, “You don’t know what you’re asking because you can’t compare this life to eternal life.” We think, “God, please, I’m praying for my will, please help me.” God says, “You don’t know what you’re asking. You can’t know what you’re asking because you can’t see the end from the beginning.” We think – make the most of this life. God knows we need to make the next life secure. We think – avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. We think – live before we die. God says we need to die to really live. We want to be like the perfect people manufactured on TV. God says be like Christ who gave his life on the Cross.
He still wants us to cry out to him, but God works on a different set of rules, and it’s a set of rules we will never understand until we’re face-to-face with him. We want things to be perfect based on our image of perfect. We don’t understand God’s image of perfect.
And so, there’s a time when we’re on the ground and we’re crying out, “Why?” And we’ve got to know ahead of time, “God, your thoughts are not my thoughts. Your ways are so much higher than mine.”
We feel small and out of control. We feel helpless. But we’ve got to know that we’ve got a personal God who is “large and in charge.” He’s way bigger than we are. And he’s ruling from heaven, and he is sovereign.
Psalm 19:1-4
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world…
Guys, we have got to understand that God is not our peer. He is not “us” with more power. Or a bigger or better “us.” God is so big we can’t even grasp him. We cannot go toe-to-toe with him – Job tried. (Job Chapter 40.)
But can we trust him? Can we trust him without understanding him? Can we fall into his arms and say, “God, I don’t know why but I know you”? “I don’t know how you’re at work, but I know you’re at work. I can’t even see tomorrow, but I know there is one either on this temporal earth or in your eternal world.”
Can we know the character of God and is it enough to get us through the circumstances of this life?
You’ve got to know that before it hits because guys like me will show up, and say the right words, and your mind will be numb from the shock. The theology doesn’t work. Either people have the foundation that God is good and he loves them, or they’re without hope. I have to wait for an opportunity when their mind catches up and I can say, “Listen, there is hope. There is a God who is the God of all hope and he loves you. This God is in control, and he has proven his love for us.”
I want you to know right now, today, God is FOR you. God is FOR us. This is a truth that is not substantiated by circumstances. It’s just a truth. It is an absolute truth and you do not gauge it by the circumstances of this fallen and sin-filled world that is run by the prince of the power of the air. If you are God’s, then he is for you all the time no matter what it looks like. God is for you.
The question is, do you belong to him as his child? And if you don’t, get adopted today because the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and into every life will come tribulation, dark days. You don’t need a genie to fix your circumstances. You need an Abba, Father to fall into his arms when something goes bad on the freeway. Or somebody doesn’t come back from a trip to the swimming pool. You’ve got to have that foundation laid.
Romans 8:15-17 (ESV)
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
What’s the point, Paul? What’s your point, Holy Spirit? The point is there’s a time when you need to be God’s child. And you need to be able to say, “Abba!” like Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Abba!” and that’s enough. That’s all you need to say.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Being children of God doesn’t mean we won’t suffer. It means we can cry out “Abba! Father!” when we do suffer. ABBA means “daddy.” It is the cry of a child that just needs to crawl up into his daddy’s arms. It’s the cry of a child who doesn’t need an explanation – in fact, they’re incapable of understanding the explanation. It’s the cry of a child that’s hurt and just needs to know that daddy cares and that daddy is there.
That’s the children of God we are. We need to stop making God an “intellectual lifestyle.” We need to understand he’s a personal God who loves you enough to die for you. If you belong to God today (and I pray you do), you have the biggest and best Abba (daddy) in all creation, and when tragedy strikes, and you don’t understand how, or why it happened, you can crawl up into his arms and know… God is for you. Let him remind you that you are a joint-heir with Christ, and yes, you’re going to suffer as Jesus suffered. But (if you are his) you are going to be glorified with him.
In the next verse in Romans 8, we read,
Romans 8:18 (ESV)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Today we see dimly, as in a poor mirror – a mirror smudged and distorted by suffering and tragedy. But then, on that day, we shall see clearly when we see him face-to-face. And the God who is in control and whose ways are far above our ways as reserved an eternal inheritance for us.
1 Peter 1:3-7 (ESV)
3… he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In this life, we will be grieved by trials, by tragedies. But God’s power is to guard us, through faith, in the midst of the trial, until our salvation is revealed. And as verse 6 says, right in the midst of the worst trials we can hold on to (rejoice) in our guaranteed and sure place with God. The picture is right in the midst of grieving. It’s that dichotomy we that we can’t get our minds around that in the midst of suffering that God has given us a reason to rejoice, to have hope.
Not rejoice, like the cripple in Acts Chapter 3 who went walking, and leaping, and praising God, though someday – certainly. As you are healed, that will happen. But rejoices in a solid confidence that when nothing can be said and there’s no answer that’s good enough, that we can know that we have an inheritance reserved in heaven and we have an Abba, Father who will carry us through the tragedy that we’re in today.
What Peter is saying here, is that the genuineness of your faith is worth more than the agony of the trial. You have to believe that. You have to believe that the genuineness of your faith has more value than the pain has pain.
And so, when we’re in the trials we groan. We know the hope of glory. We know that glory is going to follow the suffering glory that can’t be compared. We know that by comparison to the glory that the afflictions that we suffer today are light and momentary. We know that. But still, we groan, it doesn’t mean that we escape the pain of tragedy. We groan. What we need is a Father’s arms to fall into when we’re groaning.
Back in Romans Chapter 8 verse 22.
Romans 8:22-24 (ESV)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
You’re not alone. All of creation is groaning. Sin has corrupted all of creation. It hasn’t only brought pain into your life and my life; it’s corrupted all of creation. And so, when we groan, we groan in the company of all creation.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved…
Sometimes, and don’t get me wrong here, we say with Paul, “To depart and be with Jesus is far better.” Don’t misunderstand me. God chooses that moment, not anyone else. But when we understand we say, this is the hope I was saved in. I know the God who saved me, and I know what he has in store for me.
It is for hope that we were saved. It is for hope in the midst of tragedy that we were saved, and that hope we can’t even fully grasp, especially in the midst of great tragedy.
And so, we groan, and we cry Abba! And we run to God, not to get answers, but to crawl up into his arms and cry, knowing he loves us, and as we cry, he knows. He knows what every tear means.
Like when your baby cries, and you snatch them up off the floor, and you hold them tight. They still cry for a while, but you just hold them, and eventually, it gets better. And your heart is forever knit together with your child. Like that, only infinitely more, God’s heart is connected to you as his child when you run to him, unable to express the pain, just wanting to crawl up into his arms.
Romans 8:26-27 (ESV)
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,…
We don’t even know. Sometimes the tragedy is so bad you’re in shock. You’re just in shock. You don’t know what to pray for. The Spirit does. And he helps us in our weakness.
… but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
That’s what tragedy brings – groaning too deep for words.
27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Please, imagine your baby crying in your arms. You’re not asking your baby for the medical definition of how she just bumped her head on the floor. You just know. Especially a mother. Baby’s crying, the mom says, “Oh. She needs milk.” “Really? I didn’t hear her say milk.” “Oh, she has diaper rash.” “Really? How do you know?” “Oh, she has a sick stomach. That’s how she cries when she has a sick stomach.” “Really? How do you know?” Because you’re connected. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job in you.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s job in you, to connect you to your Abba, Father. So, you don’t even have to understand. Your baby doesn’t understand. They don’t have to understand the details, they just know it hurts. Mom knows why, and mom will fix it. That’s the God you have. You need to go to him, not because you understand what’s going on, but because you don’t.
So many times, I’ve seen people turn a fist, or at least a finger, at God and say, “God. If I were you, I would have done this differently.” How that comes out is, “Why would God allow this to happen? Why wouldn’t he stop it?” And they look up at God and say, “Why?” And God can’t respond. Not that he’s not able, you can’t understand it.
It’s like the ant that asked the neurosurgeon to teach him about brain surgery. And the neurosurgeon looks at the ant and says nothing. The ant can’t understand. We can’t understand but we can know God. We know WHO God IS, not what he’s doing. And so, because we know who God is, and how greatly he loves us, the next verse in Romans 8 out of the NIV says,
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
26 And we know that in all things God works…
Not because we understand what he’s doing, because we know the Person of God. And so we can know the truth is… in all things God works. God is at work in all things.
… for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Man, if that’s not you, make it you today. You receive Jesus Christ. You decide to love God, today, and you’ll find out that you’ve been called according to his good purpose and he is at work in your life.
This verse does not say that God makes all things good because we only have to look as far as our own lives to see that’s not the case. It says that God’s at work in all things for our good.
“God, I don’t understand!” “I know.”
“I would have done it differently!” “I know.”
He knows. He’s at work. We know God, we can’t understand his ways, but we know him as a personal God.
In this world you will have tribulation, Jesus said in John 16. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I am beyond the world. I’ve overcome the world. IN ME you will have peace. IN THIS WORLD you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer if you’re in me, I’ve overcome the world.
After confirming God’s guaranteed, eternal work of glory in each of his children in verses 29 and 30, Romans 8 crescendos with the only thing we do know and the only thing we can know in times of tragedy.
Romans 8:31-32 (ESV)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
It means “provide for us in every circumstance.” It’s not correct your circumstance. If he has died for you and made you right for eternity, then how will he not provide for you in the tragedy that you face, in the trial that you face? Of course, he will, if you’ll let him.
A lot of us handle tragedies in different ways. Some of us have a personality that pulls back from people. Don’t do that to God. I understand pulling back from people, just make sure you don’t apply that to God. Run. To. God. Run to him because he’s the only one with the answer. Not that you’re going to run to him and get the answer, you just know he’s got it.
And then, after guaranteeing us our right standing before God, guaranteeing us our position as God’s children through Jesus Christ, we pick back up God’s assurance in verse 35.
Do these verses explain the tragedies in our lives? Do these verses give us the answers? No. But can we know for certain that God is for us? Yes. Can we know that God is at work? Yes. Can we know what he has awaiting the suffering? Yes. Because we know God. These verses give us what we can know for certain, to give us confidence for the things we cannot know.
Romans 8:35, 37 (ESV)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
One of the most terrible things about our success-oriented, Christian culture, is that we align circumstances with God’s love for us. That God only loves us if our circumstances are right. That God is only providing for us if our circumstances are right. It’s heresy. God loves us – period. He provides for us – period. He’s given his life for us – period. God is not subject to our circumstances. There is nothing that can separate us from his love.
No tribulation. No distress. No persecution. No famine, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing.
The problem is if we connect circumstances to his love, when tragedy hits, we immediately start doubting God. But if we will build this foundation in our lives, when tragedy hits, we’ll just fall on our face and we’ll just cry. And it’s going to hurt. And we’re going to groan, and we’re going to ask, “Why?” But we are going to be laying in the arms of our Father.
The question from verse 35 is answered in verse 37.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Notice, not around, not avoiding, but IN. What does it mean? IN. Why doesn’t it say, “keep us out of”? Why doesn’t it say, “protect us from”? Because none of those things are promised. What’s promised is IN ALL THESE THINGS. In the midst of tribulation, in the midst of distress, in the midst of persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword, in the midst of these tragedies, we are more than conquerors. …we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. It means we are super victorious. It doesn’t mean we escape, avoid, or otherwise not have to go through. It means “in them.” Right in the midst with all of the pain, and all the agony, right in the midst of it, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us.
What we need to know today is that the God of the Universe loves us. Right in the midst of our tragedy the God of the Universe loves us and he is for us. He is at work.
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 or 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.
What does all mean? It means ALL. In all these things none of this can separate us from the love of God. Unless we have that fragile, mistruth for a foundation for our life that God only loves me when my circumstances are good. You need a new foundation. God loves you. And he is FOR you. And in the midst of the tragedy that has come because of the sinful world, God loves you. And you can be a conqueror, you can be more than victorious, more than a conqueror, in the midst of it. There’s nothing that can separate you from the love of God. Nothing.
Don’t let tragedy push you away from God, questioning him or fighting him. Let tragedy cause you to run towards God and fall into his arms, exhausted.
Recently a man told me a story about us and God. It happened between him and his four-year-old daughter. His daughter was angry, and she thought maybe she was angry at her daddy. And so, he set her on the bed to calm her down. But she threw a fit. She kicked and screamed in her four-year-old way, demanded her way, demanded to understand, and she was fighting her daddy. And he would continue to set her on the bed and let her work it out. It wasn’t that pretty.
And so, she would try to get her way, and he would set her back on the bed. Finally, as she is thrashing about, he opens his arms to her. And she’s stunned because she deserves to be disciplined, but daddy opens his arms. And after a moment’s hesitation, she understands what she needs to do. She runs into his arms and falls into his arms and she cries. And he holds her (and listen carefully to me), he cries with her. He cries with her. He didn’t win the battle. He just loved her into trusting him. He loved her into submitting to him. And she cried in his arms until she fell asleep.
There’re two lessons there. Number one, while you’re kicking and screaming, God is there, at work with your rebellion. And number two, when you see his arms outstretched, be shocked, and then run to him, and fall into his arms and go ahead and cry yourself to sleep. Just make sure you do it in his arms.
God can’t fix all our circumstances for reasons that we can’t understand but he will always be there with his arms open wide. Run to him.
A little over two weeks ago, I was out of town doing the work of the ministry, but away from the flock. I got a call. Carrie Boisse’s twenty-two-year-old son, Derrick, stepped off the curb at the wrong moment and was instantly, at least brain-function-wise, lost to this world. But it took four days for his physical body to catch up with – we believe – his spirit. We’re not sure exactly when that happens.
I was fortunate, and I say that in a difficult way, to be with Carrie and the family in a grueling, what seemed like eternity time as we waited for Derrick’s body to be released from the normal functions of this life. I was grateful. But it was grueling. Not near as grueling on me as it was on Carrie.
I’ve stood by a lot of hospital beds as people make the transition from life to eternal life, but when it is the result of an unexpected tragedy, it’s different. The pain is numbing, and the questions to God are whirling. It was grueling because I needed answers. That’s my job, to give them. And they don’t come easy when a twenty-two-year-old son is laying there. But there are answers.
But I told my wife when I finally got home the next day that was one of the most painful, difficult things I have ever experienced.
You guys just prayed, some of you daily, for our son David to be returned safely from the front lines of Afghanistan, and for seven months God chose to protect him. Miraculously. And it seems like suddenly I’m standing with another son the same age that just tried to cross the street. So, it’s a difficult mix of emotions for me.
Yesterday I was away, teaching the Bible again at a men’s conference, and I had just gotten home, about five yesterday afternoon. And I was making a smoothie for my granddaughter, something she loves almost as I do, I think.
We were mixing up some fruit, and my wife screamed in the other room. Breezy yelled my name, “Dad!”, to get me to shut the blender off. They were both on the floor. And Breezy had picked the phone up, and heard from Pam’s parents, that Pam’s sister, Lynn and her son Douglas, and six other young adults were in a car in Medford, Oregon. And the car rolled. And three kids lost their lives, including our twenty-year-old nephew, Douglas.
Some of you know Douglas. He stayed with us last summer and you guys got to know him. He worked here. He served here. He grew up in the Lord around here and he’s a great kid. I’ve known Lynn since she was about ten, and though they’re in Medford, we’ve always been knit-together with them, as you would be.
So, Lyn had piled some kids in their car and was taking them down to the swimming hole to go swimming. And something went wrong. And instantly, three kids, under twenty are snatched from this world. The others are still in the hospital along with my sister-in-law, Lynn.
And I have some experience with after the information has hit, that’s when they call me, after they get the call. But reflecting back on yesterday, I don’t have that much experience with getting the call. And my family went into shock just as Carrie and Gerry’s family did, and maybe as your family has. And we’re still in it.
I’m here today to share it with you because I couldn’t finish the message I was going to teach. I struggled with God for a couple of hours, “God, what do I do? Do I just go teach Acts Chapter 4? Do a take my family’s personal grief and share it publicly? What am I supposed to do here?” I really believe that God called me to get some answers and to share them.
Honestly, primarily, right now, share them with my family, but two are still in too deep of shock to be here. And Lynn and Pam’s parents are in grave shock in Oregon. And so, I am sharing for my family – those who are here and those who aren’t – and I pray that you would be ministered to, Gerry and Carrie, and others who have experienced tragedy, today.
When tragedy hits us, it stops everything. It’s like time stands still. You don’t look at the clock anymore. You don’t care. You’re not sure what the deadline is or why it’s important, and so you stop thinking about it. All your plans come to a screeching halt. Four or five hours later, the half-mixed smoothie is still on the counter, and no one has even noticed. You’re arrested by tragedy.
The question is, where is God? And my prayer is we can see him today.
I want to thank Max Lucado for helping me with this message because my family and I have been in shock.
When the phone call comes and everyone ends up on the floor, at that moment, there are no answers. Nobody is speaking, nobody should be speaking, and you have to know before that phone call comes, you have to know some things. In that moment you go numb. Your mind stops working, physiologically, things start shutting down and you can’t put thoughts together. You’ve got to have a foundation in your life that is strong, that is sure, and that you can fall on when you fall. That’s what we needed yesterday. That’s what we need today.
And it seems like there’s nothing we can cling to, except what Psalm 11 says,
Psalm 11:4 (NLT)
4 But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth.
God is unaltered by our storms, by our tragedies. He is not in shock. He is in his holy Temple. He still rules from heaven. He is ruling in heaven and he is watching. He is in the midst examining every person. He knows the very intimate details of what you’re feeling. When you can’t speak, God’s there. When you don’t think he’s there, he’s still in charge. He’s still on the throne, he still rules.
Your world has been rocked, but God’s world is never rocked. And he never loses control, he never loses being in charge – we do. He doesn’t. And so, we’ve got to know that when we’re sitting on the ground trying to make sense of what just happened that we can’t even get strength in our knees. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve fallen on the right foundation.
I need to tell you, if you don’t know, dark times come into every life on this earth. Every. Single. Life. What you’ve got to know, prior to that tragedy, prior to the tribulation that Jesus promised you, is that God is in his holy Temple. You’ve got to know that he is still ruling from heaven. And you’ve got to trust him. You have a trustworthy God. You can’t trust in chariots or horses. You can’t trust in the things of this earth. You can’t trust in your own logic or reason. You can’t trust in your own strength. It’s not by might. It’s not by power. It’s by his Spirit.
The problem is that God is operating on a plane that is so far removed from you, that you can’t get there from where you’re at. Isaiah 55 tries to explain it.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. Why are you on the ground trying to reason with me?” Guys, when tragedy strikes, the first thing you do is say, “Why?” And you say it over, and over, and over again. And you’re not really expecting an answer, you’re just conveying the groaning of your heart. And it’s okay to say, “why?” But know this: you can’t handle the answer. I don’t mean you can’t handle it as in it’s too hard for you, I mean you’re not capable. You don’t have God’s omniscience. You’re not his peer. You can’t have his answer. But you can trust he has one. And you can trust it’s higher than any one answer that you could come up with. And you can trust it’s different than any answer you could come up with.
What you’ve got to know is that God is still on the throne in heaven and he is still in charge. He is still ruling. And his thoughts are nothing like yours. It’s not on your plane. He can’t share the reason with you because you can’t understand it. But he can share himself with you. You can understand him. And you can trust him.
We think this life is everything. God knows better. We think, “God, please, make the most of this life.” God says, “You don’t know what you’re asking because you can’t compare this life to eternal life.” We think, “God, please, I’m praying for my will, please help me.” God says, “You don’t know what you’re asking. You can’t know what you’re asking because you can’t see the end from the beginning.” We think – make the most of this life. God knows we need to make the next life secure. We think – avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. We think – live before we die. God says we need to die to really live. We want to be like the perfect people manufactured on TV. God says be like Christ who gave his life on the Cross.
He still wants us to cry out to him, but God works on a different set of rules, and it’s a set of rules we will never understand until we’re face-to-face with him. We want things to be perfect based on our image of perfect. We don’t understand God’s image of perfect.
And so, there’s a time when we’re on the ground and we’re crying out, “Why?” And we’ve got to know ahead of time, “God, your thoughts are not my thoughts. Your ways are so much higher than mine.”
We feel small and out of control. We feel helpless. But we’ve got to know that we’ve got a personal God who is “large and in charge.” He’s way bigger than we are. And he’s ruling from heaven, and he is sovereign.
Psalm 19:1-4
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world…
Guys, we have got to understand that God is not our peer. He is not “us” with more power. Or a bigger or better “us.” God is so big we can’t even grasp him. We cannot go toe-to-toe with him – Job tried. (Job Chapter 40.)
But can we trust him? Can we trust him without understanding him? Can we fall into his arms and say, “God, I don’t know why but I know you”? “I don’t know how you’re at work, but I know you’re at work. I can’t even see tomorrow, but I know there is one either on this temporal earth or in your eternal world.”
Can we know the character of God and is it enough to get us through the circumstances of this life?
You’ve got to know that before it hits because guys like me will show up, and say the right words, and your mind will be numb from the shock. The theology doesn’t work. Either people have the foundation that God is good and he loves them, or they’re without hope. I have to wait for an opportunity when their mind catches up and I can say, “Listen, there is hope. There is a God who is the God of all hope and he loves you. This God is in control, and he has proven his love for us.”
I want you to know right now, today, God is FOR you. God is FOR us. This is a truth that is not substantiated by circumstances. It’s just a truth. It is an absolute truth and you do not gauge it by the circumstances of this fallen and sin-filled world that is run by the prince of the power of the air. If you are God’s, then he is for you all the time no matter what it looks like. God is for you.
The question is, do you belong to him as his child? And if you don’t, get adopted today because the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and into every life will come tribulation, dark days. You don’t need a genie to fix your circumstances. You need an Abba, Father to fall into his arms when something goes bad on the freeway. Or somebody doesn’t come back from a trip to the swimming pool. You’ve got to have that foundation laid.
Romans 8:15-17 (ESV)
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
What’s the point, Paul? What’s your point, Holy Spirit? The point is there’s a time when you need to be God’s child. And you need to be able to say, “Abba!” like Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Abba!” and that’s enough. That’s all you need to say.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Being children of God doesn’t mean we won’t suffer. It means we can cry out “Abba! Father!” when we do suffer. ABBA means “daddy.” It is the cry of a child that just needs to crawl up into his daddy’s arms. It’s the cry of a child who doesn’t need an explanation – in fact, they’re incapable of understanding the explanation. It’s the cry of a child that’s hurt and just needs to know that daddy cares and that daddy is there.
That’s the children of God we are. We need to stop making God an “intellectual lifestyle.” We need to understand he’s a personal God who loves you enough to die for you. If you belong to God today (and I pray you do), you have the biggest and best Abba (daddy) in all creation, and when tragedy strikes, and you don’t understand how, or why it happened, you can crawl up into his arms and know… God is for you. Let him remind you that you are a joint-heir with Christ, and yes, you’re going to suffer as Jesus suffered. But (if you are his) you are going to be glorified with him.
In the next verse in Romans 8, we read,
Romans 8:18 (ESV)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Today we see dimly, as in a poor mirror – a mirror smudged and distorted by suffering and tragedy. But then, on that day, we shall see clearly when we see him face-to-face. And the God who is in control and whose ways are far above our ways as reserved an eternal inheritance for us.
1 Peter 1:3-7 (ESV)
3… he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In this life, we will be grieved by trials, by tragedies. But God’s power is to guard us, through faith, in the midst of the trial, until our salvation is revealed. And as verse 6 says, right in the midst of the worst trials we can hold on to (rejoice) in our guaranteed and sure place with God. The picture is right in the midst of grieving. It’s that dichotomy we that we can’t get our minds around that in the midst of suffering that God has given us a reason to rejoice, to have hope.
Not rejoice, like the cripple in Acts Chapter 3 who went walking, and leaping, and praising God, though someday – certainly. As you are healed, that will happen. But rejoices in a solid confidence that when nothing can be said and there’s no answer that’s good enough, that we can know that we have an inheritance reserved in heaven and we have an Abba, Father who will carry us through the tragedy that we’re in today.
What Peter is saying here, is that the genuineness of your faith is worth more than the agony of the trial. You have to believe that. You have to believe that the genuineness of your faith has more value than the pain has pain.
And so, when we’re in the trials we groan. We know the hope of glory. We know that glory is going to follow the suffering glory that can’t be compared. We know that by comparison to the glory that the afflictions that we suffer today are light and momentary. We know that. But still, we groan, it doesn’t mean that we escape the pain of tragedy. We groan. What we need is a Father’s arms to fall into when we’re groaning.
Back in Romans Chapter 8 verse 22.
Romans 8:22-24 (ESV)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
You’re not alone. All of creation is groaning. Sin has corrupted all of creation. It hasn’t only brought pain into your life and my life; it’s corrupted all of creation. And so, when we groan, we groan in the company of all creation.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved…
Sometimes, and don’t get me wrong here, we say with Paul, “To depart and be with Jesus is far better.” Don’t misunderstand me. God chooses that moment, not anyone else. But when we understand we say, this is the hope I was saved in. I know the God who saved me, and I know what he has in store for me.
It is for hope that we were saved. It is for hope in the midst of tragedy that we were saved, and that hope we can’t even fully grasp, especially in the midst of great tragedy.
And so, we groan, and we cry Abba! And we run to God, not to get answers, but to crawl up into his arms and cry, knowing he loves us, and as we cry, he knows. He knows what every tear means.
Like when your baby cries, and you snatch them up off the floor, and you hold them tight. They still cry for a while, but you just hold them, and eventually, it gets better. And your heart is forever knit together with your child. Like that, only infinitely more, God’s heart is connected to you as his child when you run to him, unable to express the pain, just wanting to crawl up into his arms.
Romans 8:26-27 (ESV)
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,…
We don’t even know. Sometimes the tragedy is so bad you’re in shock. You’re just in shock. You don’t know what to pray for. The Spirit does. And he helps us in our weakness.
… but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
That’s what tragedy brings – groaning too deep for words.
27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Please, imagine your baby crying in your arms. You’re not asking your baby for the medical definition of how she just bumped her head on the floor. You just know. Especially a mother. Baby’s crying, the mom says, “Oh. She needs milk.” “Really? I didn’t hear her say milk.” “Oh, she has diaper rash.” “Really? How do you know?” “Oh, she has a sick stomach. That’s how she cries when she has a sick stomach.” “Really? How do you know?” Because you’re connected. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job in you.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s job in you, to connect you to your Abba, Father. So, you don’t even have to understand. Your baby doesn’t understand. They don’t have to understand the details, they just know it hurts. Mom knows why, and mom will fix it. That’s the God you have. You need to go to him, not because you understand what’s going on, but because you don’t.
So many times, I’ve seen people turn a fist, or at least a finger, at God and say, “God. If I were you, I would have done this differently.” How that comes out is, “Why would God allow this to happen? Why wouldn’t he stop it?” And they look up at God and say, “Why?” And God can’t respond. Not that he’s not able, you can’t understand it.
It’s like the ant that asked the neurosurgeon to teach him about brain surgery. And the neurosurgeon looks at the ant and says nothing. The ant can’t understand. We can’t understand but we can know God. We know WHO God IS, not what he’s doing. And so, because we know who God is, and how greatly he loves us, the next verse in Romans 8 out of the NIV says,
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
26 And we know that in all things God works…
Not because we understand what he’s doing, because we know the Person of God. And so we can know the truth is… in all things God works. God is at work in all things.
… for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Man, if that’s not you, make it you today. You receive Jesus Christ. You decide to love God, today, and you’ll find out that you’ve been called according to his good purpose and he is at work in your life.
This verse does not say that God makes all things good because we only have to look as far as our own lives to see that’s not the case. It says that God’s at work in all things for our good.
“God, I don’t understand!” “I know.”
“I would have done it differently!” “I know.”
He knows. He’s at work. We know God, we can’t understand his ways, but we know him as a personal God.
In this world you will have tribulation, Jesus said in John 16. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I am beyond the world. I’ve overcome the world. IN ME you will have peace. IN THIS WORLD you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer if you’re in me, I’ve overcome the world.
After confirming God’s guaranteed, eternal work of glory in each of his children in verses 29 and 30, Romans 8 crescendos with the only thing we do know and the only thing we can know in times of tragedy.
Romans 8:31-32 (ESV)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
It means “provide for us in every circumstance.” It’s not correct your circumstance. If he has died for you and made you right for eternity, then how will he not provide for you in the tragedy that you face, in the trial that you face? Of course, he will, if you’ll let him.
A lot of us handle tragedies in different ways. Some of us have a personality that pulls back from people. Don’t do that to God. I understand pulling back from people, just make sure you don’t apply that to God. Run. To. God. Run to him because he’s the only one with the answer. Not that you’re going to run to him and get the answer, you just know he’s got it.
And then, after guaranteeing us our right standing before God, guaranteeing us our position as God’s children through Jesus Christ, we pick back up God’s assurance in verse 35.
Do these verses explain the tragedies in our lives? Do these verses give us the answers? No. But can we know for certain that God is for us? Yes. Can we know that God is at work? Yes. Can we know what he has awaiting the suffering? Yes. Because we know God. These verses give us what we can know for certain, to give us confidence for the things we cannot know.
Romans 8:35, 37 (ESV)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
One of the most terrible things about our success-oriented, Christian culture, is that we align circumstances with God’s love for us. That God only loves us if our circumstances are right. That God is only providing for us if our circumstances are right. It’s heresy. God loves us – period. He provides for us – period. He’s given his life for us – period. God is not subject to our circumstances. There is nothing that can separate us from his love.
No tribulation. No distress. No persecution. No famine, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing.
The problem is if we connect circumstances to his love, when tragedy hits, we immediately start doubting God. But if we will build this foundation in our lives, when tragedy hits, we’ll just fall on our face and we’ll just cry. And it’s going to hurt. And we’re going to groan, and we’re going to ask, “Why?” But we are going to be laying in the arms of our Father.
The question from verse 35 is answered in verse 37.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Notice, not around, not avoiding, but IN. What does it mean? IN. Why doesn’t it say, “keep us out of”? Why doesn’t it say, “protect us from”? Because none of those things are promised. What’s promised is IN ALL THESE THINGS. In the midst of tribulation, in the midst of distress, in the midst of persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword, in the midst of these tragedies, we are more than conquerors. …we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. It means we are super victorious. It doesn’t mean we escape, avoid, or otherwise not have to go through. It means “in them.” Right in the midst with all of the pain, and all the agony, right in the midst of it, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us.
What we need to know today is that the God of the Universe loves us. Right in the midst of our tragedy the God of the Universe loves us and he is for us. He is at work.
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 or 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.
What does all mean? It means ALL. In all these things none of this can separate us from the love of God. Unless we have that fragile, mistruth for a foundation for our life that God only loves me when my circumstances are good. You need a new foundation. God loves you. And he is FOR you. And in the midst of the tragedy that has come because of the sinful world, God loves you. And you can be a conqueror, you can be more than victorious, more than a conqueror, in the midst of it. There’s nothing that can separate you from the love of God. Nothing.
Don’t let tragedy push you away from God, questioning him or fighting him. Let tragedy cause you to run towards God and fall into his arms, exhausted.
Recently a man told me a story about us and God. It happened between him and his four-year-old daughter. His daughter was angry, and she thought maybe she was angry at her daddy. And so, he set her on the bed to calm her down. But she threw a fit. She kicked and screamed in her four-year-old way, demanded her way, demanded to understand, and she was fighting her daddy. And he would continue to set her on the bed and let her work it out. It wasn’t that pretty.
And so, she would try to get her way, and he would set her back on the bed. Finally, as she is thrashing about, he opens his arms to her. And she’s stunned because she deserves to be disciplined, but daddy opens his arms. And after a moment’s hesitation, she understands what she needs to do. She runs into his arms and falls into his arms and she cries. And he holds her (and listen carefully to me), he cries with her. He cries with her. He didn’t win the battle. He just loved her into trusting him. He loved her into submitting to him. And she cried in his arms until she fell asleep.
There’re two lessons there. Number one, while you’re kicking and screaming, God is there, at work with your rebellion. And number two, when you see his arms outstretched, be shocked, and then run to him, and fall into his arms and go ahead and cry yourself to sleep. Just make sure you do it in his arms.
God can’t fix all our circumstances for reasons that we can’t understand but he will always be there with his arms open wide. Run to him.