Message Marked Urgent
I have a friend who says she can’t possibly believe in a God who allows so much suffering and injustice in the world. We probably all know someone who struggles with this. In fact, even as believers who understand the concept of free will and the tension of living in a fallen world, we often struggle with it ourselves. Why does God, whom we believe to be all powerful, allow natural disasters (see the news for details i.e. Japan, Haiti, New Orleans), and all kinds of evil (the Holocaust, genocides, child trafficking, etc…)???
Another friend loaned me an excellent book called “Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust” by Yaffa Eliach. This is a collection of stories that had been preserved over the years of some of the horrors endured by Hasidic Jews in World War II Europe, as well as stories of hope from those same people. God was everywhere in that book. In between, even in the midst of, some of the darkest tales, His light was evident.
One story was about a sole survivor of a large family who cried out to God at a synagogue service, accusing Him for the suffering and loss. He then asked the author, also a Holocaust survivor, if she wanted to chime in. She wrote, “Was I being called as a witness by the prosecution? I declined. No, not I. I have no quarrel with God, only with men!…I want to bring to trial a civilization for whom man was such a worthless being. But to bring God to trial? On what charges? For giving men the ability to choose between good and evil?”
Because the world has continuously been polluted by sin and death, we must live with great urgency. Because there is so much pain and suffering, we must act. We must bring Heaven, not Hell, to Earth, so that the world may know the One who forgives, saves, and loves us. When we act the way the Church was intended, we are light and salt, we give glimpses of hope, and we point to the existence of a loving Creator.
Megan, thanks so much for sharing today and the sense of urgency you mention. I think we can so easily fall into a lull and overlook that urgency and the situations we face in this world, our temporary dwelling, can shift our focus. The word that keeps coming to mind has been “intentionality”. Thanks sister!
WOW
Thank you