Putting Tragedy into Perspective

Introduction. It often happens suddenly and without warning. A phone call in the middle of the night informing us of a terrible accident or a visit to the doctor and a tragic diagnosis. Other times, like this virus, it builds over time. We get hints and clues that this might disrupt our lives, but the full extent is still unfolding. When such a tragedy, financial setback or health problem arises, it crashes into our lives, and can leave us stunned, shocked, or unable to process and think it through. What happens next is based on our spiritual maturity, spiritual mental health, and depth of trust in God.

Through the book of Job, we learn that Satan sees tragedy and loss as a tool to destroy the faith and devotion of God’s closest servants. Although God said, “there is none like him in all the earth,” Satan was convinced that with enough tragedy even Job would “surely curse You to Your face.” Job knew nothing of this, but when tragedy struck and he lost his possessions and children on the same day, he was able to work through the suffering and loss and remain stable.

• Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22).

What Job did, we can all do. We simply have to keep in perspective that God no longer considers this life to be the reward for faithful service. No matter how close we are to God we all enter naked and will leave exactly the same way. What we amass between those two events has no real bearing on our reward which will be revealed after we leave. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18). With this wisdom, whatever the Lord gives or takes away has no more meaning to us than it did to Job. Like him, we too will suffer the grief and the loss without allowing it to affect our love, devotion, respect and reverence for God

With all this grief still fresh in his heart, he suddenly found himself covered with painful and noxious boils from head to toe, never giving him any respite or rest. Job also took this in stride. He did not need material blessings or physical health and comfort as a crutch to keep his commitment to God intact. Sadly, his wife hit her breaking point. With wealth gone, children dead and her husband incapacitated, she snapped. The powerful emotions of grief, anguish, depression, or torment at all these losses led her to exclaim to her husband: “curse God and die.” Whether she had already cursed God herself is not revealed, but her agonized cry coming from her broken heart was rebuked by her husband because this is only what a foolish woman would say.

• Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:9-10)

Do we empathize more with Job or his wife? We can all understand her feelings and we have seen others respond the same way, but it can’t resonate in our own heart because our relationship to Him should not be so fragile that the loss of any possession or loved one would lead us to betray Him. Yet we all need to ask ourselves, if struck with great tragedy, would we endure that loss without blaming or charging God foolishly? James encouraged us, not only to take Job as an example of holding fast under trial, but also to carefully consider the lives of all of the prophets God has sent.

• My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord –that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. (Jas. 5:10-11).

Many of the prophets God sent to help His people were treated very poorly by those they wanted to save. They were persecuted and often placed in very stressful and unfortunate circumstances. But their love and devotion to God was so great they simply endured it all. As Jesus spoke about them, He summed this up with the term blood, because some, as Abel, had their lives taken from them because of their service to God.

• I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute, 50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. (Lk. 11:49-51)

This might have seemed very unfair and out of place, until Jesus came and put it into its true perspective by allowing His own blood to be shed in order to bring salvation to us. Jesus, the Son of God, was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” If Jesus and His apostles and prophets, along with all the prophets revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures could do this, then we ought to be able to do it ourselves. God has high expectations that we will have enough faith, that as the prophets and Job before us, we too will refuse to allow any tragedy or sorrow to hinder our love, gratitude and respect for Him.
​
The writer of Hebrews used Jesus and all the righteous who have lived before us in the same way that James did the prophets. He saw them as a “great cloud of witnesses” who could testify to us, if we allow them, of the surpassing value of serving God faithfully and not allowing tragedies and trials to hinder our love and devotion to Him. We, as they did before us, have to lay aside those weights of tragedy and keep running the race with endurance. Not only that, but we need to look at Jesus and realize that just as He despised the shame and endured the cross, in order to return to the right hand of God’s throne, so must we. We cannot allow hostility from sinners or undeserved tragedy to hinder our faithful service to God.

• Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Heb. 12:1-3)

When we add all these things to the things we learned in last week’s article, we have enough armor, insulation and power to endure whatever Satan, time and chance, or the needs of God to use us in some difficult way might bring into our lives. First, we must allow the peace of God to umpire in our hearts and help us keep things from spiraling out of control when difficult times come. We must also keep clear in our minds that it is our ability to trust God and keep our minds fixed on Him and not our losses that will keep us in perfect peace during these tragic storms.

• You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. (Isa. 26:3)

Conclusion. When Daniel stood near the lions’ den, or Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego before the fiery furnace, it was their trust in God that gave them peace and allowed them to “pass through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.” As Paul would later say when faced with the same circumstances:

• For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.  (2Tim. 1:12).

This is the thread that ties all of us together! We are not ashamed! We know Him and are fully persuaded that everything we have committed to Him will still be intact after we leave this world as naked as we were when we came. This is the perfect peace that guards our heart and thoughts in Christ Jesus our Lord.