Day 13 of 24

  Today's passage: Luke 13

Today's focus: vs 1-5

Author: [from 2020 devotional archives]

Where were you on Sept 11th? It was a day I can't forget. It put me on a path towards finding a way to become a paramedic (even when I was in high school). Not only did it shape my passion/career, it also shaped my theology of suffering. 

Many, many asked that day, "Where was God?" My classmates knew I was a Christian and asked me, "How could a good God allow that to happen? Why didn't He stop it?" I wasn't ready to answer them and stared blankly back. "I... I dunno." I had only been a freshman for a month at the big high school.  

That week, our pastor shared this passage from Luke. Reading it again brings back many good conversations, some of which are too long to express in this daily devotional. Let me humbly attempt to summarize:

Those on whom the Twin Towers fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all others who live in Jerusalem? Did God kill them because they were worse sinners than the rest of America? Did God not stop it because He was too weak? Or perhaps He wasn't paying attention? 

About a decade after, was Hurricane Katrina. Christians came forth and said that God was "cleaning" New Orleans because of their sexual culture, mardi gras, drunkenness, etc. Is that how we are to understand it?

What about today with the coronavirus? Is God punishing democratic states because of their sin? Is this His judgment on California/New York for their liberalism, as many conservatives claim? That kind of self-righteous answer makes me squirm. Faithful believers has died from this, too. 

It is imperative that we allow these short five verses to help shape our theology on suffering. 

I'm not going to sit here and speak on behalf of God as to why Sept 11, Hurricane Katrina, active shooters, covid19, etc... happen. We must answer to God; He does not answer to us. Jesus takes their question and gives them a very different answer. I will imitate the Master and do the same here. Jesus does not tell them why those towers fell in Siloam killing people. He warns them sternly: "...unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (vs 5). 

At the bare minimal, what we can understand of these man-made and natural disasters is that they stand as a warning to those of us who survived it. They remind us that life is short and unpredictable. No doctor/scientist/wizard/pastor knows how much time we have left on earth. The call is to quickly repent or we, too, will perish. 

May I remind you that repentance is not just a one time thing that you did at church when the pastor gave the altar call? We are called to daily die to ourselves, to our sins, and to repent by turning away from sin. Repentance is the action beyond the confession. 

As I'm writing this [December 2020], there are 280,000 deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. The majority were older patients, but some were young and only in their 30's. Most were ridden with diseases with comorbidity, so this just "pushed them over the edge." Yet, some were perfectly healthy athletes who should have been able to beat the virus, but tragically did not. 

The world points and says, "See? Let this be a warning to wash your hands and wear a mask." It is wise to follow this advice. 

Yet Jesus would point and say, "See? Let this be a warning that if you don't repent, you too will perish."

Let each death not be wasted-- let them remind you from beyond the grave that you might be next, therefore repent. Hear those voices who died and went to Heaven, "Repent! There is life everlasting with no more tears or pain on this side!" And hear the voices of those in Hell, "Repent! You don't want to be here." 

People on earth hate to hear the word REPENT, those in hell wish they could hear it just once more. 
-A. W. Tozer