One cannot but ask sometimes where Jesus
Christ was when His followers are been persecuted all over the world. The Boko
Haram group had unleashed mayhem on the Christians group in the Northern part
of Nigeria and more recently the Egyptian Palm Sunday bombings masterminded by
ISIS. Suicide bombers attacked two Coptic churches in Egypt during palm Sunday
service, killing forty-four people. It was the deadliest day of violence in the
country in decades.
The first attack was in the northern
city of Tanta at St. George’s Church. The explosion killed twenty-seven and
injured seventy-eight others. The explosive device was planted under a seat in
the main prayer hall close to the altar. Shortly afterward, at St. Mark’s
Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, sixteen people were killed and
forty-one were wounded in a suicide bomb attack.
Where is God when such atrocity strikes?
Or any of the strikes recorded all over the world?
An all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful
God would know the attacks would happen before they did. He would have both the
compassion and the power to prevent them. Yet he did not.
We need to remember that God did not
cause these attacks—terrorists did. God gave them the same free will he gives
to us all. He intends us to use our freedom to love him and each other (Matthew
22:37–39). When we use our freedom for evil instead, he could remove the
consequences of our sin. But this would, in effect, remove our freedom. Our
purpose as humans made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26–27) would be defeated.
Instead of removing our freedom and its
consequences, our Lord chose to redeem them.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode a donkey into
Jerusalem in direct fulfillment of messianic prophecy (Zechariah 9:9), knowing
the authorities would respond by seeking his arrest and execution. On Monday,
he overturned the moneychangers’ tables, further provoking the wrath of his
enemies. On Tuesday, he defeated them again and again in public debate. On
Maundy Thursday, he waited in the Garden of Gethsemane as they came to arrest
him. On Good Friday, the One whose power calmed raging seas and raised the dead
allowed Roman soldiers to nail him to a cross.
Here’s the point: our Lord entered our
fallen condition and took the consequences of our freedom on himself. He did
not remove our freedom—he redeemed it. As a result, by the sanctifying,
indwelling power of his Spirit, human free will can be used to advance his
Kingdom for his eternal glory and our eternal good.
For example: As Jesus grieves with the
victims in Egypt and their families, he calls us to grieve. As he ministers to
their broken hearts by his Spirit, he calls us to minister to them by our
intercession. As he brings spiritual awakening to the Muslim world, he calls us
to advance spiritual awakening in their culture and ours through prayer,
worship, and witness.
It is human nature to ask why sinful,
broken people act in sinful, broken ways. Such questions are completely
understandable and even biblical (Isaiah 1:18). But our Father then calls us to
move from speculation to action, from asking why tragedy strikes to asking how
we can help its victims.
When the second ISIS bomber neared St.
Mark’s Cathedral, a security officer saw him and tried to hug him to shield the
crowd moments before the explosion. This brave man gave his life so others
could live. He served the victims and emulated Jesus.
How will we do the same today?
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