The extent of the tragedy in Haiti is beyond imagination. Understandably, we can’t help but wonder how God can let such things happen. Here are some thoughts that help sustain me in such times.
• There is a difference between heaven and earth. We live in a world of death, mourning, crying and pain (Rev. 21:4). Of course there is also life, joy, laughing and health. We want to believe that the latter are normal. However, the very hard fact is that as long as we are on this earth we will have tears. Yes we will. Now what?
• We put our hope in the One Who is bigger than this life. We tend to think of tragedy in terms of a human life span. When we really believe that the best comes after this life on our tear-stained planet, our view of tragedy takes a significant shift. But what about those who are suffering right now?
• “Religion that God... accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27. What do we do? We love our neighbors who suffer. Notice that James assumes tears will always be at hand. Widows and orphans are the living reminders of loss. For tell-it-like-it-is James, the evidence of God’s love is not the absence of tragedy, but the action of people.
• God’s love isn’t hypothetical. The love that emerges in a tragedy matches the loss. It doesn’t compensate for the loss, but it is as real. How great the tragedy. How great the love. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. That is real life.
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How true that "the evidence of God is not the absence of tragedy, but the action of people." There is a sense of feeling overwhelmed seeing all of the news pouring in from Haiti.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I learned - even with the very limited coverage of the Rwandan genocide - find 1 reliable source for your news. Don't get over-saturated with blips, pings, tweets, posts, etc. One news source, and your Bible.
Then, do what YOU can do. Don't try to do 100, 20, 10 or even 5 different things. Do what YOU can do, and do it well. Give money? Give time? Can you be of help there? Maybe...
For the past 15 years since standing in the midst of a refugee camp of over 200,000 people I have focused on supporting Compassion Children in Rwanda. That is what I felt God was leading me to do about that, and pray, and learn all I could about that beautiful country of Rwanda. One day I will go back and do more. In God's Will and God's Way.
Most of all, pray and find what God would have You do. Listen to God's voice over this. James is a good book to pray over.
Shalom
Drew
I remember watching a program about Haiti--Port-au-Prince specifically--and how women there made "dirt cookies" for sale to the public. The claim was that the dirt was from the mountains and contained vitamins and nutrients, thus justifying the $1.00, or so, price. So, water was mixed to make mud, and mud was dried in the sun to make patties of dirt for ingestion.
ReplyDeleteDirt.
The poorest of the poor, and now this. All I can say is that what I want to do in response to this is clear, but it loses vigor the less I talk about it and the less I think about it. God calls us to action, but I often feel myself "fleeing to Tarsus" instead.
This is where "pulling together as a group" has the most value: support and encouragement. With my brothers and sisters at FDFC, I feel encouraged, for sure. We are called to action, whatever our gifts.