The Gentleness of God: Reacting to Tragedy
As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed yesterday, I came across a horrific story that recounted tragic events that took place Friday night in Folly Beach.
A couple was married on the beach. They celebrated at their reception. Pictures we taken. It looked to be every bit of a joyous occasion. A mere five hours after tying the knot, the couple was crossing the street on a golf cart. A drunk driver traveling 65 mph in a 25 mph zone hit their golf cart. The cart flipped over multiple times and landed 100 yards away. The bride was killed instantly. The groom and some family members are in critical condition.
How should we react to this? I posted a link to the GoFundMe on my Facebook and most of the comments were expressing sadness. Sadness is the appropriate emotion to feel when we hear of something like this. We feel sadness for the groom. We feel sadness for the families involved. And we feel sadness for the driver of the car, a young lady whose life has been forever changed. Reportedly, she is on suicide watch because I’m certain she feels her life is over.
But if we take our cue from our greater culture, the reaction most likely would be one of anger and outrage. We would act in anger and vitriol towards the young lady who killed the bride and severely wounded the others. That’s the way our society works through media and social media. I haven’t seen much of that reaction yet, but I’m sure it’s coming.
But as Christians, we don’t take our cue from the world. We take our cue from the character of God.
In Psalm 103:13-14, David writes, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Positionally, God has a Father/Child relationship with those who have received him as Lord and Savior. Believers are adopted into his family and become co-heirs in his family with Jesus Christ. Much of what we know about a Parent/Child relationship we know from our own experiences. For instance, if our father was harsh, we may project that onto how we view God. If our father was distant, we may view God as a distant God who doesn’t really care about us. If we had no father figure in our life, then we may really struggle to understand this very real reality and analogy that God gives us to describe our relationship with him.
But one area that is often overlooked about how God interacts with his children is through his gentleness.
When the Bible speaks of children, it’s often referring to those under the age of 12. Young children are physically smaller than parents. There are many reasons for this but the fact remains that parents, like God, are stronger than their children. A parent has the physical ability to crush a child. And sadly, in cases around the world, horrible abuse does happen.
However, most parents, especially those who know Jesus, are gentle towards their children. When their child acts out horribly or says inappropriate things, parents may get angered, but they ultimately show compassion to their children. We do this because we know our children are small. We know they’re breakable.
God views us much the same way. David writes, “He knows our frame.” God knows that any of us can be broken, whether it be physically, mentally, socially, or perhaps even spiritually. Because of this, God is gentle with his children.
As we pause and mourn this event where lives have been forever changed, ask yourself this question: “Are you being gentle with those in your life?” The next verse in Psalm 103 says, “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field.”
If we should learn anything from this tragic wedding event, it is this: that our days are short. We are here today and gone tomorrow. This is another reason that we are to be gentle with those in our lives. Because, like us, their frame is weak.
Let us all pray that God would work out this tragedy that occurred in our area for His glory and bring some good to the people involved. Because, after all, He knows our frame and He is a gentle God.
