Where Was God at Virginia Tech?
by Russell J. Schmidt
Let me preface this article by saying that I cannot possibly comprehend what those victims who have survived, and the families of those who have perished, must be going through at this time. To try and even put myself into their position, to try and understand their agony is incomprehensible. That is not my intent with this article.
There is gamut of emotions that those individuals have already gone through and will continue to go through for some time. The scares of such an event will never fade. One emotion that each person will go through at some point, is anger; asking the question “WHY?” And that question, inevitably will be directed toward God. And some will think, “rightly so.”
But, I would like to share my own thoughts on this topic, that is extremely sensitive at this point. This is not going to be an easy article to write, because I know some people are going to take offense to it, and think I am condemning them, but believe me when I say, I am not condemning anyone. There is no one in this situation at Virginia Tech that deserved to go through such an horrific event.
If you are a survivor of this tragedy, you should never feel any guilt about surviving, while friends perished at the hands of this evil. And that is exactly what this situation is; not a product of God, maybe being preoccupied somewhere else, but a product of the evil that mankind has let into this world.
As you read this article, I just ask that you keep an open mind to the question, “Do I truly understand the nature of God?” Or better yet, “Do we as a people, truly understand the nature of God?” Especially Christians! My firm answer to at least the second question, is a firm NO! We as a people do not understand the true nature of God.
Believe me, if we did, this world would not be in the evil state that it is in. When it comes to God, the general consensus is that, He allows these types of things to happen. I spoke with someone recently who was diagnosed with cancer, and they could not understand why this has happened to them. That person cried, “I’ve never done anything wrong; I raised my kids the best I knew how, than, why did God do this to me?”
Wow! I thought to myself. How do I answer that question from a biblical standpoint, in just a simple few sentence answer? I couldn’t, so I stayed quiet. Not something a teacher of the Bible should do in a circumstance such as that. But, I truly did not know how to answer that, to someone who has no idea what the nature of God is like.
It was kind of a humbling experience for me, because here I consider myself blessed, that I do understand the true nature of God, and can explain the overall concept of the Bible. But, yet, I felt helpless in helping this person understand their plight. At least in a short version. I could have went into a whole teaching on the issue, but sometimes, or most times, in circumstances like sickness or tragedy, we don’t have that luxury. We need to be able to give short answers to their questions, or maybe no answer at all; just listen.
I found myself in the position of being speechless. Then, just a few short days later this event took place at Virginia Tech. I felt it a responsibility, with the understanding that God has given me to write this article, and try to bring some understanding on what’s going on in this world and where God is in all this.
We can read Scripture after Scripture of promises in the Bible, where we can feel safe and in God’s protection. To save you reading, I’m just going to go over Psalm 91, but there are many other Scriptures we can go through as well. The theme of Psalm 91 is God’s protection in the midst of danger.
I am going to save verse one for last and you will see why when I get to it. Verse 2 says, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’” Now, the psalmist is telling us that we can say God is our refuge and that in doing so we can trust Him to take care of all our needs. Whether that is protection from our enemies, financial and material concerns, or whatever else you need, God will be there for you. The word “trust” here, is another word for faith, if you put all your faith in God, He will not disappoint.
In verse 3 we read, “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence.” In the New King James Version of Psalm 91, which is what I am using, it gives us a footnote to the word “fowler.” It tells us that the word fowler means, “one who catches birds in a trap or snare.”
The Psalmist is not talking about a hunter of birds, but a hunter of men; the devil. This makes sense when we investigate Satan’s tactics. We read in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Satan is hunting you! He and his demons will prowl around you until they can catch you off guard, which for most people, is almost all the time. Why is that? Because most people are not aware of this evil element around them. They fall prey to Satan’s temptations.
That’s a teaching for another article, but the point is that if God is your refuge you do not have to worry about Satan. Verse 4 reiterates God’s protection, but an interesting point here is at the end of the verse where it says, “His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” A shield and buckler are virtually the same thing. This was wore on the arm in battle to protect oneself form arrows shot their way or in hand-to-hand combat.
Ephesians 6:16
16) above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. (NKJV)
Here in verse 6, we see that we will also be protected from pestilence. A pestilence is a plague or disease that can leave a path of death to those who come in contact with it. God is promising you protection from that, as well.
Verse 7 tells us that even if a thousand or ten thousand succumb to this pestilence, you do not have to fear it. Verse 8 says that you will only see this destruction with your eyes, but it will not befall you.
The next few verses we are told why God will protect us, and how God will protect us. If you make God your refuge, no evil shall befall you. Nor will it come near your dwelling place. That would be your home and family; they will all be protected.
In verse 11, we get a comforting reassurance, when we are told that just as we have demonic presence around us in the spirit realm that is not noticeable to us, in the same way we have God’s angel’s also around us and protecting us.
Many might ask here, if we do have angel’s around us protecting us, than why do we still have sickness and disease, and situations like Virginia Tech to deal with? That’s a good question and is my intent of this article to answer that. Bare with me as I continue to set up the answer.
Let’s jump down to verses 14-16, where it says, “14) Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16) With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”
God is telling us how faithful He will be, if you show your faith in Him. Faith is not an easy thing for a human to perform when it comes to trusting in a God who you cannot see nor experience in this life unless you do perform this act of faith. I have my own testimony regarding this faithfulness of God.
For years after being born again, I found it extremely difficult to show faith to God in the area of my finances. Malachi chapter three is a great chapter regarding this principle of tithing, which means a tenth of your income goes to God. That’s one tenth, right off the top of your gross income. Not only does God expect you to trust Him with tithing, but He also requests that, from time-to-time, you add to that ten percent with an additional offering of whatever you feel in your heart that you can provide.
God knows that in the area of our finances we would have the most difficulty in trusting Him. Just as I did for some time early in my walk with Christ. Many times I found myself skipping my tithe because of bills that were due and not seeing enough money in the bank to cover my bills let alone adding a tithe to that.
I did not see success with my financial situation, which was always in a dismal situation, until my wife and I said enough is enough. We decided to take up God’s test in Malachi 3:10, where God says, “Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
God was truly faithful, when no matter what, my wife and I would tithe right of the top, before any expenses, including taxes; as well as adding additional offerings from time-to-time. God blessed us so much, I was able to pay off $25,000 worth of credit card debt within approximately 3 months; all while paying all our bills, tithing, and adding additional offerings almost on a regular basis to the tithe.
There is no way I could have done this on my own, because I’ve tried for years, to no avail. God was faithful to His promise!
But, there is a stipulation to all this. If you remember, I skipped verse one. Here is where that verse comes into play. Verse one says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” In the first part of verse one, there is a choice that God gives us. That choice is to dwell or not to dwell in the secret place of the almighty.
It is not necessarily written that way, but it says “he who dwells…,” that would elude to a choice. If you choose not to dwell in the secret place, than you will not be provided with the blessings that follow.
Now, this is where some of you may get a little irritated at me. But, it is not me; it is God’s truths! The societies that we live in, are far removed from God’s blessings. Let’s read a prophecy of this in Isaiah 24:5-6, “5) The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. 6) Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt” (NIV).
Another prophecy in Isaiah 29:13-14 reads, “13) The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. 14) Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.’”
In verse 13, God is saying that, “yeah, people honor me with words only, but their heart, just as their deeds, are far from me.” Next, He mentions worshipping rules of men. That’s much of religion today. That is why there is so many denominations of Christianity. Each one of these denominations has their own set of rules and regulations that they call God’s law or doctrine.
Verse 14, is a prophecy of the end times when God’s judgment will begin. Man’s wisdom at that time will perish, and God’s wisdom will supersede it. Actually, God’s wisdom supersedes it now, but God is allowing man to use his own wisdom if he wishes and not force His own wisdom upon man just yet. So, man can learn through trial and error that his wisdom is frivolous.
What does this all have to do with the tragedy at Virginia Tech? Everything! Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman who took the lives of innocent students and faculty at Virginia Tech, as well as himself, is an example of straying so far from God that Satan and his demonic presence had their way with him. Satan was able to manipulate this boys mind through his failure to be sociable, and distort his view of humanity.
The evil that gained access to this boys mind, similar to the two boys who were responsible for the Columbine murders in Columbine, Colorado in 1999, created an anger so fierce that made this boy lash out at the very society that he blamed for his own inadequacies. Society, of course, helped Satan with his own game, by, no doubt, teasing and making fun of the boy, because it appears that he was an introvert and not sociable.
This type of personality, unfortunately, is viewed by society as weird and made as an easy target for criticism and harsh jokes. Of course not all people with this personality will go as far as this boy did, but can have lingering effects into adulthood, none-the-less.
This brings us to the question of where was God at Virginia Tech? My answer; He was right there the whole time. That answer may be hard to swallow for many reading this, but it is true. Did He allow this tragedy? Certainly not! Could He have stopped it? He certainly could have. If that sounds contradictory, it isn’t.
1 Corinthians 2:11
11) For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (NKJV)
You see, when God created the universe, he set into motion the laws that govern the universe and that govern our success or failure while in this universe. God tells us in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
Not only does God give us a no-brainer choice between blessing and cursing, He even goes one step further and tells us what to choose. He says to “choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” Basically the choice between life and death is choosing between living God’s way or living according to the worlds way, which is opposite God’s.
How do you live God’s way? Well, first you have to know what God’s way is. The only way to know God’s way is to study our owners manual. That would be the Bible. If you don’t know God’s way of life, you certainly will not know how to live it. The Bible itself, tells us in Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Do you apply the Bible to your everyday life? Did you know that the Bible is, by far, the biggest selling book in history, and no book will ever even come close to it. Yet, it is the least understood book as well. When you take a look around at our societies it is clear that this is the case.
If the Bible were understood clearly by mankind and applied within our societies, life would be much different than it is. Unfortunately, our societies are more concerned with material gain than they are to moral standards. I say that because many of the tactics used to acquire material gain, throws morality right out the window.
For example, recently I spoke with a father, whose son, a marine, had just come home from a tour of duty in Iraq. His son mentioned to him how frustrating it is over there and how big companies, such as Honeywell and others, want the war to continue, because of the amounts of money they are making in rebuilding the country. Probably one of the most despicable failures of morality, you could imagine, just for the love of money. But, I would tend to believe someone who spent 7 months on the front lines in Fallujah.
Unfortunately, when a society is so far removed from God’s way of life that evil just permeates our lives, whether we bring it on ourselves or are just victims of the circumstances around us, innocent people, like those at Virginia Tech, and those lives lost in the World Trade Center, are effected from time-to-time.
I don’t want to just make it seem like it is the United States only that are victims, how about those innocent woman and children in Iraq, who are killed in sectarian violence each and everyday? The list can go on-and-on with innocent victims around the world who suffer innocently at the hands of this evil that has permeated our societies.
As I said God can change this with one word, but He doesn’t because He would be breaking His own law. When God set these laws in motion, they were firm and concrete. Even He wasn’t about to jeopardize the integrity of His law by breaking it. If He did do that then He would have to admit that the law was flawed. But, it is not the law that was flawed, but the spirit of man the He gave us at creation.
This is also why the angel’s that God has protecting us, cannot intervene when we are outside of God’s will for our lives. What’s God’s will for us? To know Him. How do we know Him? Read His Word, THE BIBLE! When we are living in the will of God, His angel’s will not be restricted by evil.
There is an interesting story in the Book of Daniel chapter 10, that speaks of this subject. In a nutshell, Daniel, who was a righteous man and who lived in the will of God, prays for understanding of a dream that the king wants him to interpret. After praying and fasting for twenty-one days , he finally received the answer to his prayer. The angel who delivered this interpretation of the kings dream to Daniel, said that Daniel’s prayer was heard from the first day he prayed for understanding and his request was granted, but the prince of the world (Satan), held him (the angel) up for twenty-one days. It wasn’t until the angel Gabriel, came to his assistance, that this angel was able to deliver the answered prayer to Daniel.
This is interesting, because even as a person living in the will of God, Satan was still able to interfere with his prayer life, or at least delay it. If you are not living in God’s will, you certainly can’t expect better or even similar results. I believe, if you are not living in the will of God, that Satan can permanently disable your prayer life. Or at least until you get yourself in God’s pleasing and perfect will. I believe God hears your prayers and wants to answer positively, but you restrict God by living outside His will for your life.
How do we change all this? Simple! If you don’t already have a Bible, I would suggest you pick one up and begin reading it. I would also recommend this website to help you understand what you are reading, because if you have never read the Bible, it will be a daunting task to understand it without the help of those who have studied the Bible with years of experience.
I myself, have studied the Bible regularly for some 24 years now. Although it took some time to get a handle on understanding, I believe God has provided me with the wisdom and clarity to effectively teach the principles that are within it’s pages. Does that mean I know everything there is to know? Not even close! But, I will continue to study and meditate on the Word, and continue in prayer that God will increase my wisdom and understanding of His Word.
As I conclude here, I would like to reiterate my heartfelt prayers for those victims family members who are left with emptiness and heartbreak at the loss of their family members. Also for those who may have survived this awful tragedy; that they may seek God for the wisdom and understanding on how to deal with the after-effects of such an evil act.
I hope this article has helped clarify why these types of unexplainable things happen in our world and why innocent people are victimized by such tragedies. And that our anger should not be directed towards a loving God who was the first
to shed a tear.
If you would like more information or clarification on any of the issues I’ve mentioned here, please contact us through the “Questions and Comments” feature below.
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