Why Lord, Why?

(I apologize if I have ventured off into “sermonizing” for this post. That’s a bit of an occupational hazard as I'm sure you can imagine!)

Tragedy was in the news again this last week.

When the news came out about the terrible loss of life in the flash flooding of the Guadalupe River in the Texas hill country, I, like anyone else who has a heart, was filled with horror and deep sadness. I hunted around the internet to find details so that I could find someone, or something to blame for such an awful thing happening to a group of darling young girls who had barely begun to live. And, heaven help me, I even read the comments under some of the news articles. I’ve told other people NEVER to do this. Your opinion of humanity and its future will be altered for the worse, if you do. But I read them, and people were, like me, looking for answers, and reaching out blindly to lay blame. And predictably, a lot of people questioned the nature of God. How could a benevolent God who knows all things and has power over all things allow that to happen?

Almost as hard to read were the people who thanked God for the Camp Owner who saved five girls, and lost his own life in the attempt, may he rest in peace. Theology comes apart at the seams during events like this when God is thanked for saving some lives and apparently turning a blind eye to the deaths of others. Why would God cause those five girls to be saved when nearly 30 other little girls were lost in the raging flood waters? Are some lives worth saving, and others not so much? Why would anyone thank God for playing favorites?  Does God allow such tragedies (perhaps even orchestrate them) to teach us some lessons about taking better care of our world, and each other? If so, that’s not a very just God, and I believe in a God who is loving and who is just.

These are hard questions. (The theological concept of why a good and just God can allow evil in the world is known as “Theodicy”.)  These questions are the things that keep me up at night, because I don’t have any really good answers. I’ve always said I’ll be first in line in the great hereafter to ask God why bad things happen to good people.

Back in the fifth century people did not have words such as “Theodicy” to help them understand why bad things happened to good people.  There was plenty of death and disaster all around, and they had few resources to help them bear the losses. I imagine that often the ones who were most affected were so embroiled in trying to survive that they did not have much energy left over for reflection. They simply cried out for help. It is no different in our own age. But when it was over I imagine that people of faith, even back then, asked the same questions that haunt us today. 

There may well be a lot of us in that line asking God why bad things happened to good people.

Until then, what can we do? Getting depressed and feeling helpless is an understandable first reaction but we cannot remain mired in the negativity. The fact that we have responded emotionally means that we are being called to act.

It does help to look around you and see the acts of love in the world that outweigh the tragedies. At the moment I see people who are suffering themselves, helping others. I see love being poured out and I know God is there, in the strong arms of the disaster relief crew, in the capable hands of the doctors and nurses and in the words and acts of so many who are reaching out to offer love and assistance in this time of inexplicable tragedy.

If you want to be one of those who offer assistance to the suffering people of Hill Country Texas, the best thing that can be done at this stage is to donate funds for recovery. My church, The Episcopal Church is already there, in action, working through the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. Their website is dwtx.org and you will find a link on that website within the Bishop’s message for making donations.

I don’t know why God allows bad things to happen to good people, but I know that good people find a way to deal with tragedy and that way always includes loving and supporting others.