Where Is God When a Tragedy Happens

When a tragedy of any sort happens, believers do not have to ask where our God is. For Jesus is always with us!!! He is with us in our good times, helping us to be gracious and giving. He is with us in our bad times, helping us to endure whatever troubles may befall us. And our Savior is right there with us when we die, gently taking us to Paradise so we may be with Him forever.

*teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:20 ESV+

*And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Lk 23:43 NKJV+

Our Heavenly Father made everyone of us as a special unique individual. The Holy Spirit gave us life, an eternal spiritual being after we were conceived by our parents in our mother’s womb. No two of us will have the same DNA, no two of us will have the same fingerprints. And our Father has a unique plan for each one of us.

*For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Ps 139:13 NIV+

*For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10 NKJV+

Our Father loves all of us, and is always with us no matter where we are. We will all have many choices to make as we live our physical lives in this world, including whether we will accept our God into our hearts or reject Him. We will all physically die in many different ways, at many different ages. The only ones who will not physically die are those who are still living when Jesus returns.

*Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Ps 139:7-10 ESV+

*Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1Thess 4:17 NKJV+

Our God has not promised us a perfect life while we physically live here on earth. Adam, the first man, disobeyed God, which brought sin, misery, and death upon all people. Yet out of His love for us, our Heavenly Father created a perfect plan to save all who would follow Him. Those who will love our God above all things will be given eternal life in Heaven, after we have physically died here on earth.

*In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." Gen 3:19 NKJV+

*"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NASB+

Jesus told us that there would always be tribulation in this world. We will all have to face trials, troubles, and physical death as we live here on earth. Yet Jesus conquered this world for us, when He died on the cross as atonement for our sins. We now have the spiritual peace of knowing when we die here on earth, we will go to Heaven to live with our Lord forever. Physical death no longer has any hold on us, only those who are not one with our Lord, need to fear eternal death in Hell.

*”These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Jn 16:33 NASB+

*but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 2Ti 1:10 NKJV+

The greatest tragedy we can ever have is not losing our physical lives, but having to spend eternity in Hell. Only believers will go to Heaven to be with our God, joining all the believers who have preceded us to Heaven. Many believers for the first time will see our unborn babies who died here on earth. We will visit with all the infants and young children who died loving Jesus, though our time on earth was limited with them. We will be united with all believers who we personally knew, and those who we did not meet, but spiritually worshipped with as children of God. And we will have the blessed assurance of once again being with all the loved ones we left behind on earth, when they also come into Heaven to be with our God.

*And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt 10:18 NKJV+

*"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Jn 14:3 NASB+

Believers live just a miniscule portion of our lives as strangers here on earth, some of us may live to be over 100 years old. And when we die here on earth, we go to our real home in Heaven above. There we live with our Savior for more than a million years, for more than a trillion years. For in Heaven there will no longer be any time, we will just live with our Lord eternally, a concept that is hard for us to even comprehend.

*Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 1Pe 2:11 NIV+

*But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Heb 11:16 ESV+

When a tragedy of any sort happens, whether large or small, Jesus is always there to reach out His hand to help all who need Him. Whether we will take His hand and be saved, or reject His help and be lost, is our choice alone. For there is no power which can separate us from our God, except our own human will, which can keep us from surrendering our life to Him.

*My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. Jn 10:27-28 NKJV+

*No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ro 8:37-39 ESV+

Solomon, probably the smartest man who ever lived, knew our human knowledge would never be able to completely understand our Father’s plans for us. Solomon knew God alone would know the purpose for everything that has been or will be done in Heaven and on earth. And He alone will know when to call us home to Heaven, when our work on earth is complete.

*then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it. Eccl 8:17 NIV+

*No man has power over [his spirit to retain it]; so no one has power over the day of his death. ptn Eccl 8:8 NIV+

*and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Eccl 12:7 ESV+

*The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Eccl 12:13-14 NASB+

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+ESV “Scripture quotations marked [ESV] are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,” copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good New Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”