Colliding With God's Sovereignty

Yesterday my son who lives in another state called with some tragic news: a teenage boy in their church youth group whose family is active in their church died in the morning – an apparent suicide.  A young man about to begin his junior year of high school apparently decided that his life was no longer worth living.  My heart is sad for him, his family, his friends, and his church.

Many years ago, the church I was attending at that time also experienced the tragic loss of a young person when our pastor’s son fell while hiking in a canyon and drowned in the river below.  I know from that experience that nothing will ever be the same again for anyone who knew this teenager and that many different levels of grief and understanding will have to be worked through in all of their lives.

You see, Christians are not immune from life’s tragedies; but coming to terms with that when it happens to you or someone you know is not easy.  There is something about our understanding of God’s character that keeps us from being prepared for life’s tragedies.  It is much easier to want a personal relationship with a loving, gracious, and merciful God than the One who is also sovereign, just, and jealous.  But I believe God’s sovereignty provides the framework for all of his other characteristics to be exercised fully, and a proper understanding of his sovereignty helps us to face life’s tragedies properly.  Nothing that happens to us here on earth, no matter how terrible, can diminish any of God’s character.  That can only occur in our minds and hearts when we choose wrong ways of responding to our collisions with God’s sovereignty.

Part of understanding God’s sovereignty includes a recognition that his purposes are often different than ours.  While God can see a complete “big picture”, we can only see our own perspective.  Everything God does or allows is a part of his overall purpose of restoring man’s lost relationship with him and all creation (Ephesians 1:4-11).  This is both universal and personal, and I don’t completely understand it.  But I can choose to trust both God’s sovereignty and his purposes. 

So this is where our role as fellow Christians comes in: will you join me in praying for God’s purposes to be fulfilled during this difficult time in the lives of this boy’s family, his friends, his church youth group, his football team, his youth pastor, and everyone who knew him?  I don’t know why this teenager’s life ended so soon; but I know enough about God to know that it goes against his character to waste a tragedy.  God always knows what is best, even when we face incredibly hard circumstances.

I also have to say that there is a part of me that is angry today – and that is because the enemy has won another victory with his lies.  For whatever reasons, this boy believed Satan’s lie that his life wasn’t worth anything.  Satan’s native language is lying, and he’s really good at it (John 8:44).  It comes in different forms for each of us, but we all have to fight against believing what he tells us instead of what God tells us.  It started with Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-5) and will continue until Jesus returns to set up his eternal kingdom; but the victory has already been won by Christ’s death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:57).  It’s important that we all focus on that truth and help other Christians to do the same. 

And if you have contact with young people of any age, take every opportunity to help them recognize how valuable they are in God’s eyes and how important it is to listen to what he says about them instead of what the enemy tells them through other people and society.  Praying today for everyone Diego’s life touched . . . and trusting God’s sovereignty and purposes in this situation.