Finding God in the Aftermath of the Apalachee High School Shooting

Two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting yesterday morning at Apalachee High School in rural Winder, Georgia, an hour’s drive from Atlanta. Nine others were hospitalized. According to Georgia Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Hosey, two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out. The suspect, a fourteen-year-old student at the school, surrendered immediately. He was taken into custody and will be charged as an adult with murder.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith choked up as he began to speak during a news conference yesterday. He said he was born and raised in the community, and his kids attend school there. “My heart breaks for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” he said. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today.”

The Worst Day of Their Lives

Try to imagine what the families of those who died are feeling this morning. Try to feel their grief, shock, outrage, and numbness, followed by anger, despair, and disbelief. Today is undoubtedly the worst day of their lives—except for yesterday. They can never be the same. This horror will mark them for the rest of their lives.

At a time like this, it’s only human to ask an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God why he allows such senseless suffering. Even Jesus cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). If he could question God in this way while remaining sinless (Hebrews 4:15), so can we.

No problem in theology has vexed me more. In part, this is because I have pastored so many grieving souls over the years. But also because this question so troubled my father after the atrocities he witnessed in World War II that he never attended church again. As a result, I have written short articles, long essays, and entire books on this issue.

And still I do not understand.

I know that God did not cause this tragedy—the shooter horrifically misused his free will to commit the atrocity we are grieving today. But I also know that God sometimes intervenes when people abuse their freedom, as when he spared Peter from Herod (Acts 12:5–17) and Paul from those who sought his life (cf. Acts 9:23–25, 30; 23:12–31).

If them, why not the victims in Winder?

Turning to the Source of Love

But here’s what I do know: a tragedy like this is actually a reason to trust God more, not less. It is a reason to draw closer to him in prayer rather than turning from him in anger.

Here’s why:

Because he is omniscient (1 John 3:20), God can feel the pain of those who are grieving as no one else can. He knows their thoughts and feelings at this very moment. No one, not even their closest relatives and friends, can feel their suffering as he does.
Because he is omnibenevolent (1 John 4:8), the God who “is” love can love them as no one else can. He weeps as they weep (John 11:35) and “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).
Because he is omnipotent (Matthew 19:26), he can sustain them as no one else can. They can claim his promise to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV).
Because he is omnipresent (Proverbs 15:3) and transcends time (Exodus 3:14), he can care for each hurting soul as if they were the only one who is hurting. He has all of eternity to listen to their next prayer. He is closer to each of them than their dearest family and friends.

And what is true for those grieving in Georgia is true for me and for you.

However, God can give only what we choose to receive. Sheriff Smith can be right when he claimed, “Love will prevail over what happened today,” only if we turn to the Source of love.

God “Shouts in Our Pain”

C. S. Lewis observed:

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

How is Jesus using this megaphone today?

I believe he wants to use this horrible tragedy to shake us from a complacency that assumes tomorrow is certain and from a self-reliance that assumes we have all of God we need. He wants us to believe—truly believe—that we are mortal and in desperate need of his shelter and care.

He then wants us to make him Lord of every dimension of our lives, every day of our lives, knowing that he always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him.

And he wants us to love him and each other as if this were our last day on earth—because it might be.

One day, it will be.

What if it were today for you?

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