Maybe it’s because I have a child right around the same age as those children that were murdered in Texas, but I can’t stop thinking about them. I can’t stop thinking about those mothers and fathers with no child to hold. I want justice for those children and for those families. It just doesn’t seem enough that the gunman was killed. The destruction and pain he has caused seems like it can never be fully assuaged on this side of heaven.
But I know and take comfort that although justice seems to fall so short here on earth, the LORD is holy and just. He imparts justice fairly. This is not the end of the story.
Why?
The cause for the madman’s diabolical attack on innocent students is still unclear. However, the conjecturing from everyone and their mother seems never-ending. We need more gun control. It’s actually mental health that’s the problem. The police need to be better armed. And the screaming and yelling between who’s right and who’s wrong doesn’t stop.
The root of the problem
But what I can’t get past is that all of the above responses to the world we live in does little to nothing to get to the root of the problem. We’re trying to pull up weeds and leaving the root conspicuously in place and untouched (throwback from my last post). What kind of a person gets up one day and thinks to himself, I’m going to shoot my grandmother and then go and shoot a bunch of children in a school? His mother has said, “He had his reasons.” Father God, are we to believe that he is also some kind of a victim too?
The gut wrenching emotion is hard to get past, but we must. We must look at the state of our country and realize this is a much bigger problem than gun control or mental health. We are rotting from within. No one wants to take responsibility. Everyone is a victim. And it’s always someone else’s fault.
Except that the only thing we have in common is that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. We’ve pushed God out of school, thrown Him out of the political debates, and only mention Him when it’s beneficial and politically advantageous. Our society is broken. We have an unprecedented amount of fatherless homes, men don’t know how to be men, women are unprotected and confused, and children are seen as burdens that are only to be embraced when they’re convenient.
I have seen the enemy! And the enemy is me.
The state of our country is our fault. We shouldn’t be shocked when horrible things like this happen. We’ve communicated to our children (or have allowed others to) that we know better how to define a family. A little tweak here and there, and voila! The modern family. Who cares what our ancestors have done for literally thousands of years? We post-modernists are more enlightened and we can all play God. And anyway, who needs God, if there even is one out there? Clearly, we know better.
Except we don’t.
Our society thinks we can redefine and repurpose what God has already defined and purposed. We can deceive ourselves for a little while, but the thing about Truth is that it always has a way of coming out. When we attempt to be the creator rather than the created, God laughs. We only hurt ourselves and cause bigger problems than the ones we were trying to “solve” in the first place.
Much bigger than politics
No political law will be able to fix the brokenness inside of ourselves. I’m not using hyperbole when I say that there is a demonic plague in our midst and the only thing that will save us is a Spiritual Awakening. We need Christ. Full. Stop. And not just His love, but His righteousness and Truth. Not the hippie Jesus that has been made out to love everyone just the way they are. Praise God, He accepts us just as we are, but loves us too much to leave us there.
We must go back to foundational truths. Not that we should eschew the law or mental health. That’s not the point. But if those are the only things we do moving forward, we will be spinning our wheels. If gun control was the answer, Chicago would be an exemplary city. Murder would be down tremendously because of the strict gun laws currently in place. Unfortunately, this is not the case. If mental health were the golden ticket, this shooter and others like him would have been recognized as having a problem beforehand. According to Lori Post, director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at the Northwestern University School of Medicine: “While it is understandable that most people cannot fathom slaughtering small children and want to attribute it to mental health, it is very rare for a mass shooter to have a diagnosed mental health condition.””
Jesus help us
Evil is real. But so is Jesus. We must act with wisdom and pray for the LORD to act in and through us, no matter what anyone else may think or say about us. We do not deserve His mercy. However, God’s Word is clear – He is merciful to those who cry out to Him with true repentance:
For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51
LORD Jesus, help us.
