Where to Turn When Tragedy Strikes

When tragedy strikes, one’s spiritual life often descends into disorientation and confusion. Questions dominate conversation with God in those sorrowful first months. Three questions, in particular, seem to undergird the spiritual agony, and a sufferer will struggle to move forward and to connect with God until these questions are resolved.

After the death of my son Cam in 2013, writing became a critical part of my coping, a grief process which ultimately resulted in the publication of Therefore, I Have Hope: 12 Truths That Comfort, Sustain, and Redeem in Tragedy. As I theologically processed how God gave me hope in my worst nightmare, I found myself repeatedly coming back to the same place.

Martin Luther famously wrote crux sola est nostra theologica. Very often, we think of Luther’s theology of the cross primarily in terms of soteriology. However, a grieving person will struggle to find a more useful, simple, and redemptive theological foundation than the cross alone in times of suffering. The cross clearly answers the three pivotal, existential questions of the sufferer.

Is God Really Good in My Suffering?

The top objection that non-religious people cite in resisting religious affiliation involves the problem of God’s goodness in a world filled with evil and suffering. It’s a valid philosophical question: if God is good and omnipotent, how can he allow tragedies and atrocities to occur?

While this problem creates intellectual challenges for us in comfortable times, the difficulty amplifies when the matter no longer dwells in the theoretical realm. The question is no longer born from a conversation in a coffee shop but instead arises from your child’s death, or your wife’s cancer diagnosis, or a car wreck.

The crucifixion of Jesus serves as a satisfying demonstration of God’s answer to this question. On the cross, God exhibits his justice and holiness as he punishes sin. God’s perfect moral integrity demands the rectifying of all wrongs. How does the Lord uphold his righteousness? Through an act of human suffering in the death of his Son, Jesus. God’s goodness coexists with horrific tragedy in the wrongful execution and excruciating pain of Jesus’ death. The cross demonstrates the coexistence of God’s goodness, sovereignty, and love in the middle of unspeakable pain and tragedy — the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Click To Tweet

When tragedies enter our own lives, we feel as if God’s character has turned. Maybe God was good before, but as I deal with my loss, has that changed? The cross communicates that God’s holiness remains static. While Jesus was being tortured, God was revealing his goodness in a salient fashion. The cross reminds us of God’s holiness when we experience heartbreaking pain.

Is God Really in Control in My Suffering?

When tragedy strikes, life can feel like chaos. The normal order has been disrupted and turned upside down. A normal spiritual reaction is to feel as if God has taken his hands off the steering wheel and the world is now careening off a ledge, repeatedly flipping upside down. Life certainly does not feel as if God is in control when tragedy strikes.

Jesus’ death on the cross was not a cosmic accident. Isaiah depicted the coming Messiah as an extraordinary man who would serve as a propitiation for God’s people. John the Baptist identified Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus frequently told the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to die for their sins. Christ had every opportunity to vindicate himself before Pilate and willfully chose his sentence of crucifixion. He had the divine power to deliver himself but passively accepted every second of his suffering.

The clear super-intention of Christ’s death on the cross tells us that God remains sovereign during times of great pain. The most comforting aspect of his sovereignty in Christ’s death is the redemption he purposes and accomplishes through his crucifixion. He saves the souls of believers on the cross and effectuates the redemption of the world at that moment.

When we observe our circumstances in tragedy, we can be tempted only to see the shattered glass of our lives. We focus only on the anguish and sorrow of our hearts. If we take the same approach in interpreting the death of Jesus, we just see nothing more than an unjust government torturing and murdering an innocent man. However, the Bible tells us of the intentional, redemptive act of God at the cross.

The same realities remain true in our tragedies. God does in fact “work all things for good” for his people (Rom. 8:28). A grief-stricken person’s limited view of his or her own tragic circumstances cannot see the whole story. God’s sovereignty and the promise of redemption in all things tell us that he remains in control in your worst nightmare. His control in all things tells us that he has redemptive purposes beyond one’s immediate suffering, even if that seems unfathomable at the moment.

Is God Really “For Me” in My Suffering?

For many people, the depth of their suffering makes them feel as if God is deliberately antagonizing them. I know a couple who struggled with infertility for over a decade. Numerous fertility treatments failed and they decided to adopt. They became unexpectedly pregnant after fifteen years of hoping, only to have that “miracle child” be stillborn. The mother explained that she almost felt as if God had taunted her.

If a person derives their view of God from circumstances, many people will conclude that God is against them. Life contains so many setbacks, disappointments, and agony. The difficulties often outnumber the delights. If a person derives their view of God from circumstances, many people will conclude that God is against them. Click To Tweet

God undeniably expresses his favor for his people most clearly in the cross. God communicates, “I am for you” to an extent that he chooses the death and judgment of his own Son over the death and judgment of his people. He expresses this love through a circumstance of tragedy and pain. He does it in a manner that is not theoretical or abstract; in real time and space, he concretely demonstrates his love for us, such that we can observe this favor in plain sight.

After my son’s death, when the dominoes of pain continued to fall, I constantly looked to the cross to remind myself that God remains on my side.

The Ultimate Source of Hope

In the midst of tragedy, the one thing people need the most is a redeemer; they need God. However, trusting him can be extremely difficult without confidence in his goodness, sovereignty, or favor. Therefore, holding up the cross provides the best move we can make personally and the best place we can point those to whom we minister. The cross demonstrates the coexistence of God’s goodness, sovereignty, and love in the middle of unspeakable pain and tragedy — the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.