My prayers go out to the families whose lives have forever changed. President Trump spoke prophetically when he quoted Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." I pray for the parent who will never see their child again. I pray for the child who will never see their parent again. I pray for the sibling who cannot see their brother or sister ever again. I pray for the friend who mourns the loss of friendship. I pray for all who have been affected by this tragedy. I pray for those who are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder in the midst of the confusion, fear, and chaos of the shooting. I pray for the family of the shooter and the confused neighbors, co-workers, and friends of the shooter.
In addition to comfort and closeness of the Lord, I pray that this situation and all of the pain caused by it produces grace and mercy for the broken. From the beginning of mankind, we were never meant to harbor bitterness and resentment. We are created in the image of God for the mission of God, which is of love and forgiveness. I pray that the hearts of the victims of this evil are filled with grace, mercy, truth, and love that flows from God to the gunman and all of the situations in his life that led him to his bitterness and rage.
I dare not condemn this man to hell for only God knows the heart of man. I apologize to the family and friends of the gunman for every Christian or any person of faith that plays the role of God and condemns this man to hell. All are subject to hearing the lies of the enemy and acting on them. None of us are free from the attack of our true enemy, the Devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And he'll whisper lies to anyone who will listen. Lies such as, "choose bitterness. you deserve better. you should get revenge. you should make someone pay." and so on and so forth. The enemy only speaks lies, so we just need to flip what he says and draw near to God who only speaks love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Stuff that no judge will ever throw someone in jail for.
This tragedy was so evil and offensive because we were never meant to kill, murder and destroy. We, humans, we're never meant to die either. Humanity was broken in the garden when Adam decided to rebel against God. Eve was deceived and Adam watched his wife have a conversation with the enemy. And that is when humanity died - spiritually. Then came physical death. The first murder came after the fall. Cain killed his brother Abel and continued the pattern of brokenness, depravity, and man's need to be reconciled back to God. Ever since the fall of man, God has provided the way back to him. Salvation by grace through faith in him.
And the best part is God gives faith to those who are dead because the spiritually dead (in which we all are upon birth) cannot muster up any faith on our own. The redemption of mankind is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. And it gets better because God doesn't leave us at redemption. He ushers us into a life of restoration. A life that is progressive and a process that is sanctifying like how a sculpture chips away parts of a block that do not need to be there.
In the midst of this sad event in our history, I pray that all see this event through God's eyes rather than through a worldly viewpoint. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith. Let's reject any temptation to become bitter, resentful, or prideful and be conduits of grace, mercy, and peace.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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