Shootings

Still another school shooting. America is not lacking for enemies abroad, but here, in our heartland, in the most pastoral of settings, among the most humble and God fearing, violence stalks the young and the innocent in a most brutal fashion. Within the hour, word travels along the hallways of our little world of insanity loosed and lives ended. The outrageousness of it propels the news even faster and causes us to cringe at the knowledge that those we love are equally as vulnerable. Never before would a mother pray that her children would hurry, grow up, and graduate so that they would be out of harm’s way. Now it is so.

The riddle of predicting these increasing spasms of violence is unknowable. In fact, it seems to happen in the places least expected. The innocent become victims more often than those for whom any shred of reason could reveal cause. It would almost seem that the days of Isaiah are upon us where the valiant ones cry, the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly, the highways lay waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth, the covenant is broken, and there is no regard for man (Isa. 33:7-8). We can no longer nurse the false hope that what we are witnessing are isolated and unrelated incidents. The insanity has become and,indeed, is nationwide, commonplace, and endemic to our culture.

So what do we do? Americans are notorious for wanting to fix things. It is rooted in our heritage of Yankee ingenuity. And now, refined by layers of education and technology, we want to find a cure for everything. There will be much reflecting in the days to come and a few will even dare to propose preventatives. But the most notable thing about this phenomena overall is the prevailing sense of helplessness that most folks feel; politicians and policemen included. We know deep down that there is little we can do as a society to deter the determined.

Isaiah describes in lurid detail his world gone mad and upside down. But he also knows the fear that grips the righteous and speaks to their anxiety. Amidst the destruction of all that they had known and relied upon for security and well-being, he speaks for God and tells the people that “wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times” and “the fear of the Lord is your treasure.” I do treasure the reign of law in this country and also the general sense of Christian values that still linger on in our culture even when their source is denied. I treasure the commitment of law-abiding citizens and policemen who are ready to lay down their lives for my safety. I treasure my rights guaranteed by my government and a free press to expose evil. But when all those things are trumped by a madman with a gun (or a madwoman exploiting her underage male students), I realize just how little stands between myself and utter chaos.

It is then that I must come back to learn to treasure the fear of the Lord. It is He who will one day rise and be exalted as the great judge and devouring fire. It is He who will burn the peoples as thorns and strike fear into sinners and surprise into hypocrites. Those that are far off will hear and those who are near will acknowledge -- His might. But who can live with a God of such awesome power? He that walks righteously and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions and does not take bribes; he who does not plot the spilling of blood and who shuts his eyes from seeing evil.

In this world, we will have tribulation, but we know a power that has overcome this world, and nothing or no one can take that from us. Our destiny and that of our children is fixed. Pass the word.