Wondering Why
Roy M. Jacobsen at Dispatches from Outland has a thoughtful post about tragedy and suffering. He begins his post with this thought: "Every day is, for someone, 9/11. It's just the scale that's different."
As Roy points out, our reaction to tragedy is "Why?" and "It's not fair!" I have said those things many times in my life: when my brother died of a brain tumor, when my Dad died of lung cancer, when a co-worker of mine was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, when a sweet elderly couple at my church were killed in a car accident one block from their house...these are just a few tragic events that have left me confused and angry at God.
Roy says that the most important thing is knowing God, rather than being happy and being free from suffering. It's true that there will always be suffering in this world. That's why saying to God, "Thy will be done," is one of the most difficult things for me. What if His will means more tragedy and suffering? I admit that this is one thing that stands in the way of me knowing God better. Roy says he's just starting to "get it." However, I'm still pretty far from "getting it" most of the time.
Susan,
Thanks for adding your thoughts to this.
You said that fear that "God's will" might mean more tragedy and suffering is something that stands in the way of you knowing God better. I think that the important thing to bear in mind is that God is a jealous lover, and that anything that stands between you and him is something he will relentlessly work to tear down. In your case, that means he's going to be working in you to overcome that fear. And what is it that casts out all fear?
If you ask me, I think you should expect God to love you relentlessly. And that's a good thing, innit?
God speed,
Roy
p.s. As time permits, I plan to expand on this whole can of worms on my blog later today.