What Kind Of God Does This?

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be your name

We sang this song at a memorial service for a 6 year-old girl two years ago. She was playing one day and in less than 24 hours, she was dead. She died of an invisible defect no one could have guessed with the symptoms she presented. There was no one at fault; she simply died.

We were angry, confused, and deeply grieved. Yet God was still God and the same One that loved us so desperately that he let His Son be tortured and then crucified also chose to allow our hearts to be wounded and He took that little girl away from two loving parents and a community of friends. We worshiped that God. We still do.

There are some situations in life where you are forced to believe that God has some greater purpose in mind, some greater good that He chooses when he allows His children to be killed. If this planet is all there is, then the death of good people and the death of innocents makes no sense whatsoever. On the other hand, if this planet is merely an opening movement to a larger piece of music, then the silencing of a note here and there has meaning.

As I think back on the shootings a week ago, I remember that this time last week, we still had four notes with us that are now gone from the page. The loss and the grieving of those around them are still fresh and extremely painful. Yet most of them have chosen to continue to praise the same God that allowed their loved ones to be taken from them. Not everyone can do this, but the strength and beauty of those who do is overwhelming.

God is there.

He's with the tears of the victims' families. He's with the grief-stricken sobs of the murderer's parents. He's there through all the heartache and brokenness. He cries with those who mourn. He sits in stony silence with those who can't cry another tear. He is there. He alone knows the depth of a person's loss. He alone feels the heartache with each parent, every sibling and every friend. He sits in the ashes with those who say, "You give and take away. Blessed be your name." We praise that God.