When Bad Things Happen

There aren’t many people in the US or other major countries around the world who haven’t heard about the shootings that happened in Tucson, AZ on January 8, 2011. During an outdoor town hall meeting a young man, who appears to be mentally ill, shot 19 people, killing six. Among those killed was a 9 year-old girl. Among those injured was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head.

Incidents like this make us ask, “Why does God let bad things happen?” Certainly God doesn’t make bad things happen. If He did, wouldn’t he make them happen to murders, rapists and child abusers?

Fortunately, and sometimes unfortunately, God gave us free will. “Made in His image” doesn’t necessarily mean we look like Him. It means that, unlike animals, we have the ability to reason. We have free will over our actions. God doesn’t make bad things happen, but sometimes people do. What He does is wrap loving arms around us and give us the strength to cope. Matthew 28:20b “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In the forward to his book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Kushner writes, “I knew that I would someday write this book. ..... I would write it for all those people who wanted to go on believing, but whose anger at God made it hard for them to hold on to their faith and be comforted by religion.” It’s OK to be mad at God. He has big shoulders. The same shoulders that we lean on when we need comfort.

Prayer: God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.