Making Sense Out Of Suffering

God in prayer during the emergency for whom God

was only relevant for the immediate need.

But I don’t want to remain cynical about how some people only come to God in an emergency.

There are some people who have turned back to God as a result of this tragedy.

They have faced up to their mortality.

For some people the acts of bravery and the amazing rescue of Stuart Diver have raised important questions.

When all is said and done, when everything else is stripped away, even the difficult questions that seem to have no answers, we are still left with God and His actions of love and mercy.

A life founded on those truths is going to hold together when everything else drops away.

As I wandered around Thredbo on the Saturday, I spoke with a number of staff who were hanging on every bit of information about the progress of Stuart’s rescue.

They were aware of how risky it was to get him out,

how powerless Stuart was to rescue himself,

the incredible cost in time, peoplepower, expertise and equipment focused on one human being.

The bitter sweet reality was also there – Stuart survived, but his wife and 18 other people perished.

3 God’s rescue mission

As I reflect on the effort that went into rescue of

Stuart Diver I couldn’t help be reminded of an

infinitely greater rescue effort that took place

2000 years ago.

READ Romans 5:6-8

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2000 years ago, God’s rescue plan for the human race came to a culmination.

One thing that the whole human race suffers from is the consequence of a world gone mad, out of touch with its Creator.

The Bible teaches that every aspect of our existance is marred by the effect of this rebellion against God.

When Paul the apostle wrote to the people at Rome, he pointed out that the whole of God’s creation has been groaning in bondage to decay and pain because of this rejection of God’s rule.

Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s amazing rescue plan, and our way of escape.

Our failure to live up to God’s perfect standards is like a crushing weight trapping us in darkness away from God’s presence.

Christ’s death on the cross made it posssible for that weight of to be lifted from us.

As we turn back to Him in faith, we don’t have to remain trapped by guilt and shame. Jesus rescues us once and for all.

As the rescue efforts for Stuart Diver unfolded, two things became very clear.

There were 3 slabs of concrete each weighing almost 60 tonne, which between him and freedom, not counting all the dirt and rubble.

There was no way he could possibly rescue himself.. He was totally dependent upon someone coming to his aid.

Someone had to be willing and as well as able to release him.

Neither can we do anything to rescue ourselves from the consequences of breaking God’s laws.

But out of His infinite love and mercy, He took the initiative – while we were powerless, we read in todays reading.