Where Will You Be?

Sep 12

Dave Walls shares this devo with us. My prayer is that you will take this to heart.

So many times I hear the question, “Why did God let that happen?”

I think sometimes we tend to think of God as our personal genie. We blame God for our problems, our mistakes, and the events in life that don’t go the way we wanted them to. We ask, “If there was a God, why did He let this happen?”

We sometimes think that if God were real, He would fix all of our problems. He would give us perfect weather, smooth sailing, and a life without pain, disappointment, or tragedy.

But why would we expect that?

If God being real meant that there could never be problems, then what would faith really mean?

Jesus never promised us a life without trouble. In John 16:33, He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The Bible doesn’t portray God as a genie who prevents every painful event. Instead, it shows us a God who enters into our suffering, who is near to the brokenhearted, and who calls His people to be His hands and feet in a hurting world.

Recently, a young boy in our community took his own life.

So tragic.
So sad.
So heartbreaking.

And naturally, we ask:

“Where was God?”

But my question is:

“Where were we?”

When a young person dies by suicide, I think we need to be very careful about saying, “God let this happen because…” The truth is, we often don’t know why God permitted a particular tragedy. We don’t have all the answers, and we shouldn’t pretend that we do.

But what we do know is that God cares deeply about the brokenhearted.

Psalm 34:18 says:

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.”

And throughout Scripture, God repeatedly calls us to care for one another—to bear one another’s burdens, encourage one another, seek the lost, and love our neighbors.

So perhaps there are really two questions we need to ask.

Where was God?

He was not absent.

He was with the hurting, the frightened, and the grieving. He was with the child whose life had become unbearably painful. We may not understand God’s providence, but we should never confuse our inability to understand with God’s absence.

Then comes the harder question:

Where were we?

Perhaps that is the more important question.

Were we paying attention?

Did we notice someone withdrawing?

Did we ask, “Are you really okay?” and stay long enough to hear the honest answer?

Did we let people know that they mattered?

Did we create a community where someone could say, “I’m not doing well,” without feeling ashamed?

We cannot prevent every tragedy. We are not God. But we can be the person who makes the phone call.

We can listen. We can sit beside someone who is hurting.We can offer hope.We can reach out.

We can simply say, “You don’t have to go through this alone.”

And that’s one of the beautiful things about Christianity. God doesn’t merely tell us to love people. He calls us to become part of the way His love reaches them.

Maybe instead of only asking, “Why didn’t God fix this?” we should sometimes pray:

“Lord, show me who needs me. Open my eyes to the hurting people around me. Give me the courage to ask the difficult questions, the patience to listen, and the compassion to stay. And when someone is walking through darkness, let me be a little bit of Your light.”

And for this young boy and his family, we can grieve without pretending to have answers we don’t have. We can entrust him to the mercy and justice of God while surrounding his family and our community with love, compassion, and prayer.

“Where was God?” is a question of mystery.

“Where were we?” is a question of responsibility.

Perhaps the Christian response to tragedy is not to choose one question over the other, but to trust God in the mystery and examine ourselves in the responsibility.

We may never understand everything that happens in this life.

But we can choose to love.

We can choose to notice.

We can choose to listen.

We can choose to reach out.

And we can choose to be there for one another.

Because sometimes, when someone is walking through the darkest valley of their life, God may be asking us to be the person who walks into that valley with them.