The Creator and the Created

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Like all of you, I woke up Monday searching for the words.  I had so many questions and the Snapchats I received from someone who was there in Las Vegas ran through my mind... they were at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.  Thankfully, they sent a snap early that morning that they had left that day before the shots rang out.  Like all of you, I immediately wanted who and why.  But looking back on it, I don’t really understand the purpose of finding answers to those questions... It’s not like those answers bring back those 58 people who lost their lives... It’s not like those answers automatically heal those hundreds of people who were injured.  It’s not like those answers will ever prevent this from happening again.  And that, that is the scariest part of all.  Mass shootings have become “just something we deal with.”  We teach our kids about them.  We prep them in what to do if one happens in their school or in public.  We educate ourselves on what to do if we are ever in that situation.  These incidents have simply become a part of our culture.  Initially, we are shocked by them, we are saddened by the loss of life.  After grief, we move onto anger.  Each of us has a belief as to what should be done to prevent these shootings in the future but the person sitting next to you has a completely different belief and will get defensive when you speak of yours.  Some of us want to blame mental illness.  Some of us want to blame the accessibility to guns.  Some of us want to blame broken homes.  Some of us want to blame terror groups.  Some of us want to blame society and turning our backs on God.  Whoever or whatever we choose to shoulder the blame, our answers to solve the problem then become quite different.  The truth of it all is that we do not think we can fix this issue without infringing upon the freedoms and liberties of a group of people.  As is their right, no one group of people is volunteering to be at the head of that line.  However, I believe differently.   

So where does this leave us?  If two sides are not willing to come to terms about funding mental illness studies.... If two sides are not willing to have a conversation about the guns themselves... If two sides are not willing to talk about societal decay or terror groups... then we are stuck here.  This will continue to be “just something we deal with.”  The problem is that none of us are ok with that but we cannot agree on how to move forward.  The question I hear often asked is “Why doesn’t God just prevent things like this from happening?”  Great question! God, why don’t You prevent these tragedies from happening?  I mean, when we look at Psalm 19, God is the Creator.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day the heavens pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  Within the very limited scientific understanding of David’s time, he understood that God created the earth in a way that enables life to exist.  By all means, our location to the sun ought to deem earth a lifeless rock floating in space.  Yet even David notes, “In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.”  Even David knew that something had to be different on earth for life to exist, otherwise it would burn up.  God, the Creator, ought to stop these terrible things from happening if David is correct in saying “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.  The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”  If these statements are correct, then why doesn’t God stop these things from ever happening?  How can God be perfect, trustworthy and right if he allows these horrific things to keep happening?

Of course, there are things we can do help prevent these shootings from happening.  However, your answers to this problem are going to be different than your neighbor’s.  My solution has nothing to do with policies, laws, or funding... It has only to do with the instructions found throughout the Bible.  To boil it down, my solution has to do with God’s instructions on love and grace.  I know, it seems illogical to think that loving your Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and loving your neighbor as yourself is the way to fix such a mess.  But it is what I believe.  While I am not perfect in doing so, I do believe it to be the only way to not live in a world where these mass shootings are commonplace.  I believe passing on the love and grace shown to us by God, through Jesus Christ and scripture, is the only way we can live in a society where we no longer want to hurt one another.  And we don’t just do it with guns.  We are constantly hurting someone with our ignorance, lack of communication and understanding, with our quick judgements and our willingness to place ourselves above all else.  

There were heroes last Sunday, those that risked their own well-being to help those more critically injured.  There were those that died while acting as a human shield so other could survive.  There were those that placed tourniquets on complete strangers as the gunfire continued to reign down.  In the midst of the worst our human nature has to offer, we saw some of our best.  This is great and amazing but what if we didn’t have to wait for a moment like this in order to showcase the best human nature has to offer.  What if we lived in a world where our best was lived out in every moment of every day.  Some of you may say that for 99.99% of us this is the case.  There may be a little truth in that, but if it were completely true, then our willingness to hurt others in word or deed wouldn’t be so prevalent.  Some may feel that I live in some sort of fantasy world by thinking that we can again live in a world where these mass shootings do not exist.  I understand the sentiment.  However, if God could so perfectly place a planet, with all the necessities to sustain life in the midst of the vastness of the heavens; I do believe that following the instructions of love and grace placed in a book by imperfect individuals is the perfect solution.  David writes, “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them righteous.  They are more precious than gold...they are sweeter than honey... in keeping them is great reward.”  It sounds impossible, even utopian in nature, but I believe with all that I am that following the decrees to love God and love thy neighbor will be the solution, and our reward that puts an end to these horrific events.     Amen.