In The Face of Evil

It was supposed to be a fun evening. Costumes and film marathons.  For one town, it ended up anything but fun.


This past week, we couldn't believe what we were hearing.  A crazed man in Aurora, Colorado had opened fire in a crowded movie theater, killing and wounding many people.  He apparently had plans to do more, setting up explosives and booby traps in his car and apartment.  How scary.  What is this world coming to?  It's enough to make a person afraid to go anyplace.


It seems like every time we turn around there is another psychotic person that is hurting or killing innocent victims.  We can  easily get depressed and cynical about life.


And yet...this is what life, here on earth, includes.  Pain.  Suffering.  Senseless death.  We wonder "Why?"  There is no answer.  We don't know...and we may never know, this side of heaven.  We do know that in the midst of the suffering there is also something else.  Hope.  Hope that can take away all of our fears.


Over two thousand years ago the same things were going on.  There were insane and barbaric men in those days also.  They got some maniacal thought in their head and acted upon it.


One man was so jealous of a completely innocent person, that he couldn't stand it.  The more that he thought about another person taking away his power, he became more and more obsessed with keeping what he had.  He would stop at nothing to make sure that he didn't lose what was rightfully his.


This man was a king.  He had heard that a baby was born that was also a King.  He stewed and thought about it...for about two years...and finally snapped.  He ordered all young male babies two years of age and younger to be killed.  Soldiers obeyed.  They went from town to town, slaughtering innocent little boys.  How horrible.  Can you imagine their poor families?  I'm sure they were thinking, "What is this world coming to?  It's enough to make a person afraid to go any place."


Yet, unbeknownst to King Herod...and those poor families....there was Someone waiting, A tiny Boy that would hold the answer to those questions in His outstretched Arms.  He was safe and protected in Egypt, waiting for the time when He would come and save His people.  Save them by dying on the cross to take their place.


So when we look at television news, or read the newspaper and see the tragedies that are out there, we can know.  Perhaps the tragedies are in our own families.  Maybe we are living in the aftermath of a death, or sickness.  Yet, we can know.  We can know that Jesus is waiting for the time when He will come again and bring us all to Him.  At that point, we will have no more sorrows...no more pain to endure, for He will have all of the answers to all of our questions. And you know what?  The questions probably won't even matter anymore.