Where is God when Tragedy Strikes?

• I received this message (question) this morning and wanted to share it:
  

  
  

  Joe, How do YOU handle a situation like this? How do YOU explain it. I am having a very hard time trying to figure out where God was yesterday. You understand these things. I'm afraid that I don't.
• Today
• 

  12:53pm

  Joe Parks

  Hi,
  Well you are not in the minority. Many, many people ask that very question. They asked after yesterday's tragedy... it got asked in Colorado after the movie gunman tragedy.... it got asked after 9/11, it gets asked when a child dies, not necessarily through a traumatic event such as yesterday but just a child getting sick and not recovering then passes away. An infant dying of SIDS, any loved one that is taken away from us unexpectedly for any reason. It's hard for us to grasp, it's hard to get our mind wrapped around it.
  So you are not alone in your thoughts.
  What we have to understand is 1st of all God is not absent. Scripture tells us He is everywhere, all the time - "The eyes of the Lord are in every place..." Proverbs 15:3 - And God said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you" Hebrews 13:5.
  2nd, God does not 'cause' the evil in this world but He has allowed it.
  That actually goes all the way back to the first humans, Adam & Eve.
  You know Adam & Eve did live in a perfect world for a time (The Garden of Eden) While they lived there everything we spectacular, there was no pain, no suffering, not a single bad thing.
  That is until they 'chose' to sin. And that's where it all started.....
  

  God has given us free will to choose. We are not puppets on a string, we have free will. And the truth of the matter is our own flesh and desires are built in with evil, which is why we need God. For Him to help us live life to the fullest.
  Jesus said in John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

  So answering questions about tragedy or trying to wrap our brains around such things is very hard to do. We just don't understand it.
  We just have to accept that evil is in this world and us, our race, humans, opened the door for evil. God didn't, doesn't cause evil. He does however give us the right to choose.

  He has come that we may life. He has comfort for us and His Word tells us that He will turn the bad (harm) into good.
  Genesis 50:20 -
  "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

  Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God"

  On the other side of that question could be this question.... 'Why is God so good to us?'
  But that can be for another day 

  I hope this is helpful

  
  

  And I hope it is helpful to you as well.