A very good friend of mine for whom I have the greatest respect, especially for his walk with the Lord and his philanthropic efforts just experienced tragedy of epic proportions. He has an ultra-close relationship with his family and next to God they mean more to him than anything.
So last Sunday his 14-year-old grandson was killed in an ATV accident. This child loved the Lord and was involved in several Christian ministries. A friend invited him to go for a ride and the ATV flipped. My friend’s grandson pushed another boy out of the way to safety when he saw that it was about to land on them. It saved the other boy’s life but tragically it crushed him. As you might recall one of my neighbor’s grandsons had a similar experience on an ATV a few weeks back but was thrown from the vehicle and broke his back. As a result, he might not ever walk again. He is in intensive rehab now.
The funeral was this weekend and though I could not attend, I’m sure it was sad beyond the pale. Invariably when something like this happens, especially to good God-fearing people we want to ask why? Why would God allow it? I’ve struggled with it myself and the best answer I can come up with is found in Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
This tells me the following:
- Trust in the Lord
- Lean not on your own understanding
- He will get you through it
God is good and He loves us. The best evidence of that is that though we do not deserve it He sent His own Son to suffer horrible things at the hands of evil men and then they took His life in order that we could be reconciled to Him. But some will say that is fine and well, but I cannot understand why God would allow bad things to occur in this world. The Bible tells us, “Trust in the Lord”, and “Lean not on your own understanding”.
I have experienced much tragedy in my life, not the least of which was the suicide of my brother. At the time it happened I wondered how I could ever get through it. Nonetheless, God put me on a path that led me through the hurt and grief and though I still grieve for him almost daily I have found peace with it.
When an incident like this happens, we must keep in mind that all things turn out for Good to those who love the Lord. I don’t pretend to be a Bible writer, but I would include those who love and trust in the Lord. And when questioning the motives of God, we must not lean on our own understanding and recognize that God loves us more than we could ever imagine, and He has His own reasons for allowing it to happen. We don’t like what happened but if we saw the entire plan, we might understand it better. In short, He understands everything; we see dimly as though looking through a dirty window. Even if we did understand why God allowed it, we would still grieve and that is okay.
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
P.S. Thanks for listening – If you have a young child, please do not allow them to get on an ATV unsupervised, especially with a group of other kids. You wouldn’t allow them to drive a car at a young age so why allow them to drive one of those dangerous vehicles . . .