Morning Meditation – St. Louis Fatal Harrow
Morning Meditation with George Hutchings
St. Louis In a Day of Fatal Harrow
Romans 8:28-29 “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son….” (NKJV)
Today, I remember families and their children in St. Louis who have suffered a fatal harrow: a deadly occurrence. There are deep spiritual and physical wounds right here because last week, on October 24 at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, there was a shooting. The news was so horrific I could not pay attention. Later I learned a student, a teacher, and the shooter died, and seven others were injured.
The sight was terrible, and the sounds of students and parents crying were heartbreaking. Sin had had its “evil day.” The Bible speaks in Ephesians 5:15-16 about walking in the “evil day.”
The Central Visual and Performing Arts High School needs people to lean on. Families and staff need to grieve in silence with their friends and relatives. They need private space to process that tragic day. There will be a time for words that can assist the healing process, but right now they need to grieve.
When it becomes time for words the Bible offers hope for the “evil day.” Romans 8:28-29 says, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son….”
These verses do not say all things are good, but they do say that out of the worst evil God is able to extract good. God plays tricks on the devil. For example, when the Egypt’s pharaoh decreed that all two-year-old boys were to be killed, one boy escaped and became the pharaoh’s own son. Pharaoh paid the food bill, the diaper bill, the clothing bill, his education, his military arts training. The boy’s name was Moses, who would later say to the pharaoh, “Let my people go!”
Romans continues with, “He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” God can use tragedy to build character into the lives of the survivors. And then He kicks the devil in the seat of the pants with 2 Corinthians 1:4, stating that sufferers “may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (NKJV).
In the silent moments God Himself will bring comfort. And later in the time for spoken words, God continues to heal and comfort so that the tragedy brings comfort to others.
I once comforted a woman on the day her husband died while she held his hand. I was with her but had no words. All I could do was let her sob on my shoulder. I could not say “everything will be okay,” because everything was not okay. After moments passed she collected her emotions and broke the silence with, “I must make arrangements.”
People do not listen to people without scars; they have not yet experienced life. But they hear and follow those with the scars and the students at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School have received scars and will bring God’s comfort to thousands of those living through the “evil day.”
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George Hutchings, Co-Founder and President
Juanita School for Girls, Jungle Kenya
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