Tragedy; Psalm 46; Proverbs 13

May the mumbling commence!

Yesterday, I spent a majority of the noon hour watching breaking news from Connecticut.  I had turned on the TV to see the weather forecast, but I ended up watching something stomach turning.  The shootings at the elementary school hit me pretty hard because I have a four-year-old son.

My prayers are with that community.  I cannot begin to imagine what they are going through.  I cannot imagine why anyone would even dream of inflicting injury or death upon some of the most vulnerable in our society – our children.

I cry.  I weep.  And I ask God why.  Why did God allow this to happen?  And I ask myself how I can help keep this from happening in my own community.

Too often, we are fed the lie of redemptive violence.  I see it in the movies I watch.  I see it in the escalation and growth of our military.  I see it in families – domestic violence.  I see it in the church – causing division and splits.  I see it in myself when I feel the anger toward the gunman who gun down the most innocent in our society.

Together, we need to seek alternative ways to deal with our emotions and with our conflicts.  Both emotions and conflicts are a part of life.  We must seek a more godly way of dealing with both of them or we will continue in the violence that saturates our hearts.  Read from Proverbs chapter thirteen:

A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth,

But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. (Verse 2)

The fruit of our mouths spews forth from the attitudes of our hearts and the thoughts of our minds.  May the attitudes of our hearts and the thoughts of our minds be transformed by God so that our words and actions will bear forth godly fruit.  The other alternative is to remain unfaithful to the Lord and feed solely on violence.  And make no mistake – violence is unfaithfulness to the Lord.

God, we need your help and hope more than ever.  I need your help and hope more than ever.  Transform us from the inside out and help us to teach and be examples of more godly ways of resolving conflict, more godly ways of problem-solving and godlier ways of dealing with our emotions.

Sometimes, I wonder which is more frightful – continuing on the path we seemed doomed to travel as a people and a nation or seeing the world come to an end on the twenty-first of this month.  We wait in the Advent season.  And I say along with the writer of the letter of Revelation, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

In this time, I give thanks for these comforting words of Psalm forty-six:

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble. 

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Selah (Verses 1-3)

God is our Rock, the Anchor for our lives.  Let us rest in that knowledge, as the psalmist does later in Psalm forty-six:

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth! (Verse 10)

Help us to rest and be still in the presence of our Lord – especially when it seems that the world that we thought we knew is coming crashing down on our heads.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out