Between Sundays “There is Evil in the World”

Lora and I happened to be in Bend on Thursday, the day a shooter entered an elementary school and shot and killed three young children and a teacher and seriously injured another young child and a teacher.
How can we make sense of such pain, such dark evil?  As I was grieving over such dread and awfulness and how one even reconciles such a thing, I was reminded of a few verses of Scripture;
•  “…the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”  1 John 5:19
•  “…death spread to all mankind because all sinned.”  Romans 5:12
•  “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…”  Ephesians 2:2
•  “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  Ephesians 6:11-12
But then, after such an evil event, how do we respond to such tragedy?  My heart hurts for the children who witnessed such horror, and my heart weeps with the families who were touched by such loss.  We should “…weep with those who weep” Romans 12:15.
The Bible informs us that finding peace and hope means that we have anchored our heart in God.  Our hope is in God, 1 Peter 1:21.  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” John 16:33.
 We understand that peace and hope are real things and we pray with and for the families of all those impacted by this awful incident that they would know peace and hope, but we also recognize pain and grief, those sad reminders of an evil world.
Pastor Mike
“between Sundays”