An Unwelcomed Knock

When tragedy arrives at our doorstep, self-examination is a first step for managing its impact. Unexpected tragedy creates fear and anxiety in addition to anger and sadness. These emotions initiate a search for answers to tough questions. While God allows evil to exist, we are responsible for its pervasiveness in our lives.  

          When evil activates a crisis that shocks a person or family to its core, it demonstrates how negligent we’ve become in believing we are outside evil’s reach. Tragedy perpetrated by evil calls into question exactly what we value. Our personal choices provide evidence that what we believe is either acceptable or unacceptable, good or evil.

          Evil attitudes and behaviors are noticed by God, as Judges 2:11 confirms. "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord by worshiping other gods. They provoked the Lord to anger, so he withdrew his protection and caused them to be in great distress." God honors your faithfulness and will strengthen your will to remain faithful.  

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Indeed, I do not do the good things that I want to do, but I do practice the evil things that I do not want to do. But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is really not I that am doing these things, but it is sin which has its home within me…Wretched man that I am! Who can save me from this deadly lower nature? Christ our Lord!

~Romans 7:19-21, 24 Williams – New Testament in the Language of the People