When Towers Fall!

When catastrophes like nine-eleven happen in our world, or when suddenly a young person is called to glory, people always seem to question how a good God could allow such terrible things to happen. The same question came up in Jesus' time too, as we see from an incident recorded in Luke's Gospel 13:1-5. No wonder the book ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People' by Harold S. Kushner was New York's #1 bestselling book!

Some worshippers were massacred by Pilate's soldiers. The people who came to Jesus were troubled about this and asked Him how God could have allowed such things to happen to His chosen people who had come to worship at the Temple. Jesus answered their question with another question: "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? (v2)" The answer was apparently no. People always assume that all the suffering that people endure in this world is proportionately related to their degree of sinfulness! It is never so. The Bible makes this point very precisely. It shows that the wicked sometimes prosper and the righteous sometimes suffer deeply. The life of Job is an excellent example of this.

Jesus mentioned a similar incident: "… those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? (v4)" Again, the answer was apparently no. In fact, Jesus was saying the right question to be asked would be, why our own blood was not spilled. Dr. R.C. Sproul, founding pastor of Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Fla. says we should not be questioning the justice of God but must be amazed by the grace of God. We should be asking why towers do not fall on us each and every day!

My friend, we have been spared by divine grace not because we are better than others but because of God's mercy. When we suffer, the people around us may think that we are the greatest of sinners. But Jesus says that only the unrepentant sinner will be judged. Let us repent and recommit ourselves once again during this season of Lent for we have been graciously spared by the Lord!

Categories: Weekly DevotionalsAuthor: Hephzibah StephenDate: 12th March 2019 Share: newsletterDisplay date: 13th March 2019

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