Marginalizing God

By Carin LeRoy  –

The recent event at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut was a horrible and unthinkable tragedy. As a nation, we were stunned by the fact that one person could burst through the safe environment of a school and commit such an act of brutality on innocent and trusting children. We wonder, “Could that happen to my child?”

The carnage that left a school and community suffering, lives destroyed and families devastated makes us ask, “How could this happen? What has gone wrong in our culture that people have become so heartless? Is it violent video games? Do parents work too much? Is it latch-key kids? Is it mental illness? Were drugs the reason? What is it?”

We ask, “Why would God let this happen?”

I don’t know the answers in this situation or the mental stability of the perpetrator, but I do know that as a culture we have left the foundations that this country was built upon. A nation that began with Biblical principles and chose to proclaim on our currency “in God we trust,” is now a nation that seeks tolerance and justification for sins which God hates. We no longer want to recognize God’s laws or commands. We’ve become a nation where many lack moral direction, compassion and empathy. Some children grow up lacking hope and purpose in life, and the scores of broken homes haven’t given our children the stability they deserve. Some polls record that less than 20% of Americans attend church on a regular basis. That leaves about 80% – many who probably do not have knowledge or recognition of God in their personal life.

As a nation we have marginalized God more and more by allowing God’s principles to be forced out of our society, yet we wonder “Where was God?” As our moral decay increases, so will such tragedies. But as believers, we know that God is sovereign and that He still reigns – even with evil in the world. Psalm 73:26 reminds us that “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (NIV)

Not only were we stunned by the events that day, but I believe God grieved too. He gives a solution when He says, “If my people will pray…” Let’s ask God today that our nation will not seek worldly answers from society, but that we will seek God for answers and ask Him to heal our land.

PRAYER: Lord make us a people of prayer. Help us to live lives that will be a testimony to others who do not know You. Make us a light that shines in a dark world.

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land,” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV).