Matthew 2:16
Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
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I can’t even begin to fathom the grief caused by this act carried out by Herod in an attempt to kill the child, Jesus. As a nation we are mourning the death of the “babies” senselessly slaughtered at Newtown, CT. Imagine every boy under the age of two in an entire city and the surrounding area brutally butchered with no police to intervene. In fact, this act of brutality was carried out by the law enforcement officials.
Yes, America has insane and brutal citizens but we can thank God that, unlike many nations of the world, those people run free in our nation but they do not run our nation. Evil occasionally raises its ugly head and screams for attention but its life is quickly extinguished, order is restored and for that we must be grateful.
And, as we see in the Christmas story, in the midst of the blackest of times God is not hampered from accomplishing the greatest good. In the midst of man’s darkest expression of evil, God was revealing the light of life, the light of all mankind, the light of the world.
When evil seems to triumph in your life, you can rest assured God has not left you, God is in the midst of it, the light of the Lord is still shining and available to you. His tears over the evil of man’s ways will mingle with yours over the result of that evil but rest assured, as surely as the night has come, so shall the sun rise again and, if you simply put your hope in Him, the light of eternity will bring a bright future. “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right.”
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Psalm 30:5
… weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Isaiah 51:11-12
The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass.
This is good to help us see the bigger picture. As tragic as the most recent school shooting was, we are blessed beyond what we deserve in this country.