Recommendation: Read “Hugo’s” very articulate, very honest response to Friday’s post “The prayer God hates to answer… but will.” Also, read the tender and gracious response to Hugo posted by “All4God.”

Hugo and his family endured a bitter and unjust tragedy – the murder of his father. Hugo claims that it’s “nonsense” to suggest that we should not expect to know “why?” such things happen and that instead we should pray and ask God “how can something good come out of this?”

Is it nonsense? To suggest that God seldom answers “why?” is not the same as saying that God WILLS evil things to happen. It’s fair to say that God is “God” and still reject the notion that God was an accomplice in this terrible tragedy. To believe in an all powerful God doesn’t mean believing that God is “in control of everything” or that everything that happens is God’s will. To believe that God is all powerful and all good is simply to trust that God is able and willing to recreate every situation and turn it into something unimaginably good. Most Christians (and Jews as well) both believe that God permits free choice for humans – and for spiritual beings that also inhabit our world. But once we make choices, even evil ones, God is still able to counter our choices and recreate the world all over again, to still bring it around to something wondrous and beautiful.

Even for Hugo and his family, there is hope. God did not make this evil happen. In fact God hates injustice and shares much the same anger that Hugo expresses – though he’d express those passions differently that Hugo has. Still, God isn’t locked in a box. He can, if invited in prayer, turn this horrible darkness into a new day.

To everyone reading this: Let’s pray that God does just that!