A Chasing After the Wind

As I listen to the news, scroll through my News Feed on Facebook and navigate blogs following the inconceivable evil wrought on Friday morning in Newtown, CT, this is what keeps rising up in my mind:  

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  What is twisted cannot be straightened, what is lacking cannot be counted."  Ecclesiastes 1: 14-15

Twenty fresh-faced, rosy-cheeked lives were snuffed out in an act of carnage so repugnant, one cannot bear to think on it too long without a visceral response.  Six brave, selfless women- mothers, daughter, aunts, sisters, wives, friends- were prematurely ripped from this earth.  Countless family members, friends and survivors have been forever marred by staggering trauma and loss.  

We cry out about gun control and mental illness and prescription drugs.  Politicians make impassioned promises to right all that is wrong with this world with their policies and laws.  But the hard truth is this: what is twisted cannot be straightened, what is lacking cannot be counted.  

No amount of dialogue or legislation or research or best practices can restrain the evil that can be borne out of the human heart.  We are a twisted people living in a fallen world.  

Our ONLY hope is not found in anything we can do to save us from ourselves.  Our futile attempts to do so are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

No, our ONLY hope is found in the God of the Bible.  Our ONLY hope is found in the Father who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to take the penalty for our sin.  Our ONLY hope is found in the Holy Spirit who gives us power to live a godly life.  Our ONLY hope is in the ONLY One who can straighten our twisted hearts and make our lives count despite all we lack in our own strength.  

Today, we weep with those who weep.  We pray and cry out to the God of all comfort to heal the broken-hearted and to be close to those who are crushed in spirit.  We share God's love whenever and however we can.  It's the only appropriate response in this hour.

Soon, yes, there will be honest dialogue about gun control, mental illness, and prescription drugs.  And spirit-filled believers must enter in to these dialogues, using the principles from God's Word and the wisdom He gives us to make a difference in this world.  However, we must never be blinded to the truth in this process.  The truth that only God can bring the full restoration our hearts long for and we must never waver in this message.  

"Now all has been heard;   here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment,  including every hidden thing,whether it is good or evil."  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14  

There is a day, and it's coming soon, when He will right every wrong and wipe every tear from our eyes.   

"And in despair, I bowed my head.  There is no peace on earth, I said.  For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.  Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead nor doth He sleep.  The wrong shall fail, the right prevail.  With peace on earth, good will to men."  from I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day