Making Sense of the Randomness of Life

A Batman movie opened a couple of days ago and movie goers intending to watch a movie in Aurora, Colorado were terrorized, shot and some were killed.  Where is the sense in that?

Try as we may we cannot make sense of the randomness of life.  Evil is evil.  Evil will erupt.  Destruction will be destructive and appear often with no warning.  It is a broken world we live in and the cracks in the brokenness are more apparent sometimes than at others.  The brokenness becomes more apparent to anyone close to the cracks, but it still doesn’t make sense. 

The scientific research has not solved the problem of evil.  The logic of philosophers has not put a stop to the darkness. 

But what of God?  What has He done about this?  He has acknowledged the problem of evil, given instructions on how to live given the situation, and has laid out the end game.  But God has not provided all the information needed for us as human beings living on this earth to make sense of the randomness of life.  That is above our pay grade, it is way over our heads, it is need to know only and we don’t need to know.  God has released the information needed for living in a world where brokenness and randomness exist.  That information is something worth getting hold of.  He says it like this:

“The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”  Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT

God has included in His basic instructions that people not murder other people.  Some don’t listen to God and act out anyway.  Then other people suffer.  Other people have to put the pieces of life together after a shattering act of evil. 

Rather than make sense of the randomness of life perhaps being prepared for the outbreak of randomness in a broken world would suit us better.  We can do something about being prepared and we can do something about a situation once it has occurred. 

In the big picture few humans will get out of their fleshly bodies while alive.  Some people God may take directly to heaven, but for most dying is the way of transition.  Given that reality it would seem prudent for those who know the Living and True God to be ready to point others to God and to help them, teach them, encourage them along the way.  We never know when a random act of violence will take place or when the end of our days will come, but being right with God and helping others be right with God seems wise and loving. 

When the unthinkable enters our realm of reality we can do something about it.  We can as we have opportunity help someone.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of random violence bursting onto the scene and a man who had resources offering what he had to assist a victimized person. 

We can do something about being prepared and we can do something about a situation once it has occurred even when we don’t have all the reasons for the occurrence.  This is part of loving God and loving others.  And though we are limited in understanding why darkness breaks out as it does we are linked in to the limitless source of light which can and will shatter the darkness.