Can God Get Even Him?

Monday bombs exploded, lives changed, three died.

And we didn’t know who it was. . .

Thousands of miles away shocked I cried and prayed. I couldn’t imagine what those in Boston were experiencing.

By Friday night we had two suspects – one was dead and the other in custody. Still we wonder.

Who were these kids – these men who took lives and maimed people?

And he has a throat injury so still we do not know. We don’t know why? And would it matter if we did?

Does anger or hatred really make the bloody events easier to swallow?

And the truth is that our own anger and hatred is the same anger and hatred that set bombs.

We pretend in our culture of political correctness that we do not have anger and hatred, but we do.

It is as old as Cain and Able brother killing brother. It is in our sin-soaked blood and we are all capable of the same anger or hatred that Cain had – that allegedly Tamerlan and Dzhokhar had.

The same hatred that laid bombs by an eight-year-old boy is the same hatred that burns hot in our hearts.

Hatred. It bubbles when we get cut off on the highway. It seethes when someone hurts our feelings. It flashes in angry outbursts when we don’t get what we want or what we think we deserve.

And there it is. . . The stark truth that we are all able to hate so much we don’t desire justice we desire a reckoning. Our flavor of reckoning on our terms in our way.

And yesterday in front of twelve pre-teen girls I asked them. . . Can God get even him? Can God save Dzhokhar?

He saved Rahab a prostitute.

He rescued David an adulterer and murderer.

He chose Saul a Christian murderer.

He saved me. . . a woman in desperate need of a Savior. . . a woman kept only by His grace.

And so God can. God can save Dzhokhar. And God is also the God of perfect justice. We can trust God on that score. He will have justice. Vengeance is His.

And so I pray. I pray for those he influenced, killed, injured. Those who influenced Him. I pray that deeds done in the dark will be brought to light. I pray for healing and peace and reconciliation. I pray for justice.

And I pray for a 19-year-old man who allegedly wreaked havoc on Boston. A man who is a boy in so many ways. I pray for justice – God’s justice. I pray that God will somehow get even him so that God’s glory may be seen.

And I thank God that I can trust Him in this sinful world. Not that life will always be sunshine and roses, but that He is there in the hard times and His purpose will prevail.

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Hey memorizing buddies…How is the first chapter of 1 John going? Do you have it down? I got it down this week. Let’s work on 1 John 2:1-3 this week. Let me know how it is going for you.