Finding Meaning in Tragedy

Author Richard Exley tells the story of a pastor whose son committed suicide. Returning to his pulpit ten days later, his text was Romans 8:28. With a trembling voice he read, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” He said, “I cannot make my son’s suicide fit into this passage. It’s impossible for me to see how anything good could come out of it. Yet I realize that I only see in part. I only know in part.”
Fighting for composure, he continued, “It’s like the miracle of the shipyard. Almost every part of our great ocean-going vessels are made of steel. If you take any single part…and throw it into the ocean, it will sink. Steel doesn’t float! But when the shipbuilders are finished, when the last plate has been riveted in place, then that massive steel ship is virtually unsinkable.”
“Taken by itself, my son’s suicide is senseless. Throw it into the sea of Romans 8:28, and it sinks. Still, I believe that when the Eternal Shipbuilder has finally finished, when God has worked out his perfect design, even this senseless tragedy will somehow work to our eternal good.”
In the midst of his despair, this Christian father’s hope was in God’s promise to “work for the good of those who love him.” He came to realize that God shapes our lives through both agony and ecstasy to make us more like Jesus.

Related Scripture: Romans 8:28

© 2007 Leith Anderson