“This evil is from the LORD. Why should I trust in the LORD any longer?” 2 Kings 6:33 (NAB)
“Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD.” Psalm 27:14 (GNT)
On May 24, 2022, Salvador Rolando Ramos and his 66-year-old grandmother had an argument over a phone bill at their home in Uvalde, Texas during which he shot her in the forehead. He then took her Ford pickup truck, crashing it through a barricade and into a concrete ditch near Robb Elelementary School. At 11:33 AM he entered the school with an AR-15 style rifle and seven 30-round magazines of ammunition. Inside the adjoining classrooms of Room 111 and 112, Ramos killed 21 people, including 19 children, and injured 18 others before he was finally gunned down by a border patrol officer at 12:50 PM.
What is our reaction when we hear of such horrific evil in our world? Where is God in all the carnage? Is He not sovereign? Could He not have prevented this, or at least, have stopped it before such tragedy unfolded? How do we make any sense of all the senseless suffering in our world? It is important to note that there are no easy answers to the problem of pain. The book of Job is filled with Job’s haunting questions, but at the end of the book, most remain unanswered.
Conditions in Israel in the year 894 BC were so horrendous, that its citizens were starving to death, and women were actually eating their own children in the hopes of survival. The king sends a messenger to the prophet of God with these words: “This evil is from the LORD. Why should I trust in the LORD any longer?” In contrast, the Psalmists exhorts us to “Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD.”
Those same two choices face us when we encounter horrific evil: reject God in rebellion, or trust God in submission. Andrew Murray has said, “All the dealings in Scripture had just this one object, to teach men to trust God.” We can and must trust the God who loves us so much, that He was willing to subject His spotless Son to the greatest horror this world has ever witnessed: God-forsaken agony on the cruel cross of Calvary to atone for our sins! The ultimate answer to evil is the cross!