4 Surprisingly Comforting Verses During Tragedy
Last weekend, a deadly tornado event in the Midwest involving a total of 35 confirmed tornadoes across nine different states devastated towns and claimed nearly 100 lives, most notably in my own state of residence, Kentucky. It is coincidental (or perhaps providential) that only two weeks prior I posted a video and article about my own life-changing tornado-related experience. Maybe someone impacted by this tragedy will come across that story and be encouraged or challenged by it.
But whenever we experience something like this, or even just hear about it, it’s completely natural to start asking big questions—about life and death, about why this happened, and about God. Usually, we ask these questions because we’re seeking comfort.
As anyone familiar with it knows, the Bible has more than a few words of comfort for us in times of tragedy. Oddly enough, though, some of those words of comfort are a bit counterintuitive and even painful at first. Here, I’d like to share four counterintuitive verses of comfort, and a few thoughts of application.
1.
“I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
When terrible things happen—natural disasters, political or economic catastrophes, personal tragedies—it’s very common to hear people say, “God didn’t do this, He only allowed it.” This claim is meant to be a comforting reminder that God wants good for us and not harm, and to answer the philosophical objection that a morally perfect God couldn’t possibly be behind something evil.
Unfortunately, the claim that God wasn’t the one who caused the calamity doesn’t take into account what God says about Himself: “I am the Lord, who does all these things.” God Himself, in first person, claims to be the cause of both light and darkness, both well-being and calamity.
That includes the calamity of these tornadoes last weekend. God takes credit for more than we like to give Him credit for. How is that comforting? It’s comforting in light of who God is, as we’ll see shortly. But first, another verse to drive the point home...
2.
“Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6)
Again, this time through rhetorical questions, the scripture makes clear that it is God who is responsible for disaster. In fact, the suggestion is that no disaster occurs unless it is from God. This is striking—even disturbing, at first glance.
God causes suffering? God causes the fires and hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes that make people lose everything? God caused 9/11? God caused the Holocaust? God caused COVID-19? God killed my loved one? God made me get sick? God made me lose my job? My house? My spouse?
The verse, rephrased, could respond: no disaster comes to a city unless God has done it. And yes, this verse speaks more to larger-scale disasters (“to a city”) but the principle is true for personal tragedies, too. Isn’t every large-scale disaster, after all, a collection of many personal tragedies?
The fact that it’s also true of personal tragedies is on full display in the book of Job. Not only did God allow Satan to take everything from Job and afflict him with sickness (Job 1:9-12; 2:4-6), but God provoked Satan to do it (Job 1:8; 2:3). If Job’s tragedy was not directly done by God Himself, it was nonetheless caused by Him. For that reason, Job’s theology was correct when he responded, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21). The buck stops with God.
Doesn’t that mean God is simply horrible? An awful, evil tyrant? Some have come to that conclusion. Some have even rejected belief in the existence of God because of this. But such a conclusion is fatally short-sighted. Why?
3.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6)
Imagine the perfect friend—someone who truly loves and cares about you, who you know would take a bullet for you. Now imagine that that friend said or did something that really hurt you. What would you think about that? You may feel confused and betrayed, but if you were to reflect on the character of your friend, you might consider whether what was said or done was actually for your benefit.
Maybe you’ve actually had an experience like that: sometimes friends hurt us for our own good, or for the good of the friendship, through painful confrontation or intervention, because they see something that needs to be addressed that we either don’t see or have chosen to ignore. So also, sometimes parents hurt their children (discipline) for the sake of helping their children learn the proper way to behave and to think.
Jesus, the God-man, said to His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14 ). The writer of Hebrews, echoing Proverbs 3:12, wrote that “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6). So then, those who are followers of God are His friends and His children, whom He treats accordingly—sometimes wounding them for their own benefit. That raises an important question to answer: is God your friend? The Bible makes clear elsewhere that He’s not everybody’s friend.
But hold on. We’re talking about calamities and disasters and tragedies—situations where people die. How could this possibly be a ‘faithful wound’ from a friend? Does God kill His friends?
Why should it be surprising that God kills His friends? Isn’t it common in Christian circles to hear people say, referring to someone who has died, “The Lord brought her home”? What can that mean other than that God caused the person’s death, and that it was according to His good plan and timing? Below we will discuss further the significance of the death of Christians, but here let’s just consider that maybe God is too big to fit into the boxes we usually like to put Him in. He is Master of the bad occurrences as well as the good occurrences in our lives, and for those who are His friends, this is a very good thing.
4.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Notice what this verse doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “all things are good.” It says “all things work together for good.” So while not every occurrence will be good, the end result will be. We’re never promised life without suffering. In fact, Jesus promised the opposite to His disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation.” However, this promise came with a word of assurance: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ESV).
The phenomenon of good coming out of suffering is on full display in the account of Joseph (Genesis 37-50). Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, an injustice which set into motion a series of remarkable events that resulted in him being able to save many lives in the face of a famine, including the lives of his family. After their eventual reunion, Joseph said to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20 ESV). Even more pointedly, he said, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8 ESV). As with Job, the most horrible occurrence of Joseph’s life is attributed to God. The event itself was not good, but the result most definitely was.
Returning to Romans 8:28, notice what else this verse doesn’t say. Specifically, notice who it isn’t talking about. It isn’t talking about anyone other than “those who love God,” or, in other words, “those who are called according to his purpose.” That means the promise that all things will work together for good isn’t a promise to those who don’t love God; it isn’t for those who aren’t called by Him. All these comforting assurances are only for followers of God.
That leads us to an important question that each person facing a tragedy ought to ask themselves, or more appropriately, ask God: What is God trying to teach me through this tragedy?
For Those Who Don’t Know God
For those who don’t know God, there’s an obvious answer. God is using the disaster you’ve experienced or are currently experiencing to get your attention and point you to your need for Him. Without God, there is no ultimate comfort from calamity. There is no promise of a good result in the end—and in fact, worse than that, there is promise of a very bad result. Let me explain.
The Bible teaches that God created us humans to be with Him—to be in a loving relationship with Him, glorifying and enjoying Him forever—but that we sinned against Him, and our sin separates us from Him. He is morally perfect, but each of us are evil—we lie, steal, lust, misuse His name, etc.—so we cannot have a relationship with Him. Furthermore, because God is just, He will judge us for our sins, and justice demands that we be condemned to hell forever for our sins. That means that getting sick, or losing a job, or losing one’s house in a storm, or any other difficulty a person may encounter, is far from anyone’s worst possible problem. The worst possible problem is being given the justice from God that each of us deserves for our sins. And that worst possible outcome will be the outcome for many, many people. That’s the bad result that is promised.
But, there’s hope, because God became a human being, Jesus Christ, and died for the sins of the world. Just as a criminal in court can be let go if someone else pays his fine, Jesus’ death paid the fine for our sins. Then, Jesus came back to life. Just as He rose from the dead, we can have new life. Though we are guilty of sin and deserving of hell, we can be released from our penalty and have a relationship with God, glorifying and enjoying Him forever. This starts here on earth and continues for eternity in heaven. This gift of salvation from hell, and eternal life with God, is available, but it’s not automatic. The only way to receive this gift is to trust entirely in Jesus Christ—to repent from your sins and believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. You can do nothing to be saved, but Jesus already did everything to save you. That’s why just before He died He said, “It is finished.” Trust alone in Him, and you will have eternal life. In fact, you’ll be “born again,” utterly changed, and you will desire to live a life of obedience to God, including learning His Word (the Bible) and living in fellowship with His people (the Church).
Whether you’re facing a tragedy or not, that’s the most important message for any person who has never heard it, or never acted on it. It’s what‘s called the “gospel,” which means “good message” or “good news.”
For Those Who Do Know God
For those who already know God, we also have to ask the question, what is God trying to teach me through my tragedy? Ultimately, the answer is actually the same as that to the unbeliever: God wants to remind you of the gospel! The gospel is not merely the introduction into Christianity; it’s the continuous source of life for the Christian.
That being the case, there’s some nuance required to fully answer the question for each individual follower of Christ. Since Christianity is a personal relationship with God, there’s something personal that He has to say to each Christian experiencing tragedy, and that thing ought to be discovered through prayer and searching the Scripture. Here are some possibilities:
God may be teaching you to trust and rely on Him better (Proverbs 3:5-7; Isaiah 55:8-9).
God may be disciplining you (Hebrews 12:6), or drawing you to reflection and repentance for sin (Psalm 38).
God may be testing your faith, to produce steadfastness in you and draw you closer to perfection (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-6).
God may be reminding you that this life is fleeting (James 4:14), and there’s a better world coming (2 Timothy 1:8; Hebrews 11:13-16).
C.S. Lewis once had a profound thought about the necessity of hardship in the Christian’s life. He wrote:
“My own experience is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God’s grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear.”
—C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins, 1996), pp. 106-107.
If you’re a believer experiencing hardship and you want to know why, just ask the One who is sovereign over all of it. Pray and read His Word; you can start with the verses in the list above. Seek, and you will find the answer you need.
The Death of a Believer
A final thought, about the believers who have died or will die in some kind of crisis situation. If they’re dead, we can’t say God has something to teach them, can we? So, what about them? What are they supposed to gain from their tragedy? Well, for one, an important word about this comes from Psalm 116: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). God has His perfect plan, His perfect exit strategy for each of His children, and even when it doesn’t seem right to us, it is. If all things work together for the good of those who love God, then that includes their deaths.
And as painful as it is for those of us still living, the benefit of death for the believer is not hard to understand. For the believer, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). That may not be the most immediately comforting word for the bereaved person who is missing their loved one, but the truth remains that it really is good news. The living believer is living for Christ, but the departed believer is with Christ—and “that is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
In Closing
There are any number of questions people may still have about the issues raised by tragedy, or by the issues I’ve addressed here. If it’s a question you think I can help you with, shoot me a message. Otherwise, prayer, Scripture, and a trusted Christian friend can be great resources for wrestling through these issues.
Tragedies, crises, tribulations, and every manner of difficulty, are facts of life, and are to be expected. The amazing thing is that God uses these to communicate to us. And so, the God’s-eye perspective that we get from the Bible makes all the difference.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.