Making Sense Out Of Senseless Deaths

Last week it seemed like the entire state of Iowa was moved by the senseless killing of a Keokuk county deputy. Over the weekend I was in Des Moines and people there were greatly affected by the murder of a real estate agent. I looked in the local paper here, and in a town of just 9,000 and the obituaries ranged from a 30 year old killed in a work accident to a 97 year old who died of natural causes.
None of this makes any sense to us. When someone is murdered or killed we tend to say it is senseless. But the truth is, it all makes sense to God. It says in Job 14:5 that our days are numbered.

 ⁵ You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live,
      and we are not given a minute longer.

This verse explains the sayings. "When it's your time, it's your time." Or "I guess their number was up." We may not like it or understand it but God is in control of everything.

What we see as very bad, God is using for good. The question remains if God is using it for good how can it be bad? God knew the deputy and the real estate agent were going to be shot and he allowed it . God knew the 30 year old was going to killed while at work, yet he allowed it. He allowed all of these things to happen because he has a purpose for them. Romans 8:28 tells us:
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
This tells us that God uses everything and everything does mean the bad things. He uses them for the good of those who love him. The question is do you love him? Do you love Jesus?

Keep in mind as we saw in Job that when something bad happens we can and should grieve. But we should also know that however senseless these things seem, that they do have a purpose. We should also be praying for the families of these people and for anyone else whom God may use these tragedies to call them to himself.

The only way that we can make sense out of what appears to us to be a senseless death is to know that God is in control. The closer you are to someone who passes the harder it is to understand. But the closer you are to Jesus the easier it becomes.

If you know someone who has been affected by a senseless death please feel free to share this with them.