Where is God in the Midst of Tragedy?

Responding Beyond the Platitudes

I have seen multiple posts on social media from fellow Christians proclaiming that God protected Donald Trump from the assassin's bullet. I am thankful that former President Trump was not killed; however, this raises some important questions about the God we proclaim.

If God protected Trump, why did he not protect Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who was killed? Was he not as important to God? Is God only interested in protecting the powerful? Was God only capable of protecting Donald Trump? What should we say to his two daughters who are without their father today, or his wife who must now raise them alone?

What about the 19 children and 2 teachers killed in the Uvalde school shooting? Could not our God be bothered to protect them?

While I understand our desire to credit God with such protection, because of our faith in God, I think our simplistic proclamations make our God look rather capricious to those outside of the faith (and to many inside it).

American Christians live in a society that is becoming increasingly non-religious. As a result, we are being challenged about our beliefs as never before. We witness this on social media. We can react to these challenges in one of two ways.

Some Christians react to this reality by insisting that they are being persecuted for their faith. Christians are being imprisoned, tortured, and killed in other parts of the world. Being challenged in our beliefs and proclamations that come from those beliefs is not persecution. We can also choose to open ourselves to criticism, taking this moment in time as an opportunity to reflect on, even challenge, aspects of our beliefs that we have often accepted without much reflection. To do this, we must be able to see our critics, not as enemies, but as people who see, in part, our inconsistencies and even our hypocrisy.

We need to take great care not to project our political views and allegiances on to God, assuming that we see things the way God does. Many reason that, of course, God would protect Trump because they believe that God has chosen him. Would those who are proclaiming God's protection over Trump, proclaim the same protection if the attempted assassination was on President Biden?

Christians tell a story of faith in which God became human. As John's gospel says, he became one of us, with skin and all, and made his home with us. This God, in the life and death of Jesus, entered into our suffering. Our response to suffering is to enter into tragedy as the world experiences it, to bind up the wounds of the wounded and to work for justice in an unjust world. This is the way we proclaim our faith in God when bad things happen.

How do Christians answer the oft asked question, Where is God in the midst of war? The answer is, “In the rubble.”