But if you search there for the Lord your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul — when you are in distress because all these things have befallen you and, in the end, return to the Lord your God and obey Him. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God: He will not fail you nor will He let you perish; He will not forget the covenant which He made on oath with your fathers.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31
We are still reeling from the tragic events of last weekend. At times like this everyone tries to make sense of it all. The questions are many, the answers few. Fear, sadness, hopelessness are all understandable responses to times like this. Sometimes life goes wrong. Things happen, tragedies take place. Sometimes other people are the cause, and then there are those times when our fallen out is the result of our own decision making.
In the midst of such difficult moments it is easy to wonder where God is? Is God asleep? Does God care? Has God forgotten? Does God exist?
The story of faith reminds us that God is there, next to us, God has not forgotten, God keeps the promise made. Our God is a compassionate God who understands our brokenness, our anger, our despair, our lament.
Compassion is difficult. It is more than feeling sorry for another, or pity. It is about putting ourselves in another’s situation and responding from a place of oneness with that other. It means walking alongside, being with, living through the brokenness into the hope with the ones who needed most.
The God we serve calls reminds us to search, ask, seek. It does not matter who’s at fault nor does it matter that we are the ones who break the covenant made. God understands, God knows, God is with us . . .
May those of us who proclaim good news shine a light and declare that no matter the difficulty, the pain, the disappointment, “God is here!”