Tragedy Strikes, What Now?

by Eric

By Eric Horton

We live in a time where it seems like tragedy strikes almost weekly whether it be done by nature or by man. It seems as if we can’t get away from horrible events that try to destroy our American spirit and divide our ideas of liberty and freedom. The past few days as we read or watch the news, we’ve been focused on this tragic shooting that happened in Las Vegas Nevada.

Image Credit: The New Yorker

We see pictures that are horrific and we hear the sounds of affliction and calamity on videos. Things several years ago we wouldn’t have been able to experience because of the lack of social media. So these sites and sounds have become very real to us.

We may never know why this man did what he did. Obviously he was filled with a hateful rage that took over his mind to the point that he premeditated this attack. He took time to plan and focus on a certain place to let his rage and anger playout. As of today, 59 people lost their lives and well over five hundred were injured. All at the hands of a mad man.

One thing to point out, is that these bullets he shot out of his guns didn’t have a certain person in mind. It didn’t matter your race, religion and etc. Simply put, it just didn’t matter to this man who was there and who the people are he was shooting at, he wanted chaos and he got it. He wanted deaths, and he got it.

Image Credit: Beliefnet.com

So now what do we do? As a person who serves The Lord my immediate reaction to this tragedy is to pray. I know, sounds simplistic, however it’s not as easy as one would think. It’s always my impression that people pray and praise God during the good times. That’s because things are going good. When tragedy strikes, we typically get mad, sad and frustrated and we don’t call on God for comfort. We would rather blame and also rage against those who hurt us. I know the feeling too.

When we pray, we pray hard, bold and passionately and we ask God to comfort the victims and their families. We pray for peace and understanding among those who are impacted from a tragedy. In this case, we also pray for our nation. We have already seen and heard the division that comes from those that govern us. Frankly there is no sense in that.

Perhaps if we all could just set aside time each day to truly go before The Lord and worship Him, praise Him and pray to Him, then maybe, just maybe this nation would begin to see the fruits of all the worship, praise and prayer. We need to come to our knees and focus on God.

Image Credit: LifeHopeAndTruth.com

We need to give The Lord our feelings, our emotions or even our response. The Word of God tells us in 2nd Corinthians, “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

God can handle anything. Your rage, anger, fear, sadness and any other emotion. He knows you’re hurting and are desperate need of His comfort. When tragedy happens, you may not understand where you are emotionally and most likely your emotions are up and down. Why wouldn’t they be, right. God will comfort you, just give Him your emotions.

Something else we do, is that we surround ourselves with a community of people who care and love us. One thing about the American spirit is that we stick together. The United States is full of multicultural folks who all have one major thing in common. That is freedom. We should use our liberty to be there for those suffering. Just like after Hurricane Harvey hit, people pulled up their sleeves and began to help one another. The same should be true in an event like the one we seen in Las Vegas.

The more we pour out our love, support and encouragement to those who are suffering, the more likely they will heal faster.  They will know that we are in this together. It’s like I tell those who attend the church I pastor, “When one is hurting, we all hurt and when one is happy, we are happy with and for them.” That’s a right attitude in any tragedy.

Tragedy will most likely strike again. Could be tomorrow, next week, a month from now or just in the future. All I know is that it will happen. When it does, we need to pray, we need to let God be God and we need to stick together. There is a song called Stronger by Kelly Clarkson and there are lyrics that say, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” That’s a good point. I’m fonder of Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

May The Lord bless each and every one of you.

 

 

related articles