This Sunday (Lord willing) I plan to preach on this, because the mass shooting that happened in Las Vegas is on everybody’s mind, and because we need to be able to find answers to current events in God’s Word. I have read many people questioning on Twitter where was God in this event—and many do not know the answer. But I want you to know the answer. I want us to know.
God was there. He wasn’t absent. This didn’t catch Him by surprise. Hebrews 4:13 says, “There is no creature hidden from His sight.” Psalm 139:7-8 says, “Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”
So then why didn’t He stop this evil from happening? Ultimately we don’t know why specifically in this case, but we do know this: God restrains evil every day. If God’s mercy were not present in this fallen world there would be a Las Vegas every single day, in every single country, somewhere. Why? Because we have sinful hearts that have evil in them. Everybody does. Anywhere where there are people—no matter what color our skin or our race—a Las Vegas is possible. But for the restraining grace of God.
Through God’s Word, by His allowing this evil to happen, we can say that He is telling us this: that sin and evil are real. And not just real, but a real problem. And the Lord Jesus tells us that we need to repent and believe or sin and evil will eventually lead to our death (Read: Luke 13:4-5). And there, in this tragedy, is yet the good news: That despite our sinful hearts, through repentance and faith God is willing to save us from both our sin, and from the evil in this world. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for sin, so that if we repent and believe in Him, we will not perish but have everlasting life.
So don’t waste your time today. As someone has pointed out: “None of us is promised tomorrow. Or even our next breath. We have to get this sorted now, this very moment.” And that means me. And you.