Where is God when bad things happen?

Watch the helpers

On a recent afternoon at Indiana Dunes State Park, my grandsons and their great-grand parents were caught on the beach by a brutal wind. It mercilessly hurled tiny stinging sand darts at every exposed living thing. It was so fierce the boys were crying as they all retreated through the woods for the shelter of the motor home (not an altogether bad alternative).

A few days later back at home, the boys and I were walking to the park for some batting practice. "Grandma, I don't believe in God anymore." This from the seven-year-old.

Grandma: "Oh?"

Seven year-old: "Yes. We were in that sandstorm and I asked God to make it stop, and He didn't.

Older brother: "Yes we prayed to God every way we knew how, and He didn't."

Grandma: "Hmm, yes, that's a tough one. But you made it safely back to shelter, didn't you."

Seven-year old, "Yes. But why does God make sandstorms?"

Grandma: "I don't believe he does."

Seven year old: "Then who does? The devil?"

Eight-year old: "There is no devil."

Seven-year old: "Yes there is! Isn't there Grandma?"

Grandma, evading for the moment the devil question, to address the more urgent issue of where God IS when bad things happen:

"Remember Hurricane Katrina (both boys nodded) that drowned so may people? There were a lot of folks praying then for it to stop or go away, and it just kept raining and blowing and flooding everything. Many were asking then, Where is God?"

We reached the pitcher's mound, deeply engaged in our theology. "But you know what? A lot of people came to help. Volunteers who didn't get paid, who just drove all the way down to New Orleans with food and water, and other supplies. Who took a week or two from their work, people like your mom and dad who just wanted to help those who had nothing.

"If you want to see where God is, watch the helpers, watch the care-givers."

This must have satisfied them, for we spent the next 1/2 hour pitching, batting, catching and mostly chasing balls.

C.S. Lewis, author of the Screwtape Letters, (though more likely known for “The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) wrote "I do not pray to change God. I pray that God would change me."

I think Lewis had it right. That’s a prayer I can identify with. Not asking God for things. Asking God to change us, to mold us to His purpose, shape us to His plan. Of course this assumes one knows and trusts his God, to shape a good, useful, and generous purpose for the one who prays. It assumes God knows better than we do what will bless us, give meaning to our lives, and make the world a better place at the same time.

“Consistent prayer is the desire to do right.”

Mary Baker Eddy