Kindergartners are not supposed to die. Not at gunpoint. Not in the chair they were learning their ABC’s in.
The news channels aren’t getting any sleep these days. They’re too busy talking. I’m listening to them now.
Harsher gun laws. Arrest them if they won’t comply! Where are the psychologists? Isn’t there a drug that could have stopped this? Where’s the security? Why don’t we have an armed cop in every classroom?
The discussions go on . . . and on . . . and on . . .
While the parents weep and the pastors are unusually busy. While flags go to half-mast and moments of silence abound. While other kindergartners go to school in the morning, wondering if they’ll be shot. While everyone asks why?
And we’re so caught up in the drama, we miss the point again.
How do 20 murdered kindergartners compare to 10,000 Ugandan abducted kids? How does a day of terror stand next to a year of one million American abortion victims? How does one classroom of death stack up against the hundreds of bombed churches across the Arab world?
It’s not really the worst tragedy of the century. It’s not something we’ve never seen before. It hasn’t even surprised our worst nightmares. And, unfortunately, it is going to happen again. And it won’t be fixed. And we will forget.
But if God was good when Cain killed Abel in a field, then maybe He’s still good when Jimmy kills Tommy in a classroom. And if God was personally interested in Job’s answer when he lost his crops, his herds, his house, and his kids all in one day, then maybe He’s still personally interested in our answer today. And if God said that even the Pharisees with all their good works weren’t blameless enough to enter Heaven, then maybe He doesn’t see blameless when He looks at us. And if God “didn’t spare His own Son but graciously gave Him up for us all,” then maybe He’s not obligated to spare us. And if God could take His dead Son and raise Him back to life, then maybe He can do the same with us.
And maybe that’s where we need to fix our eyes. Whether corn prices are skyrocketing or the government’s in debt or the Christmas tree is perfect or a man with a gun walks into a classroom.
"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior."
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior."
