For this reason rejoice, heavens and those who live in them! Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you in a great rage knowing that he has only a little time. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle in order that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert to her place, the place where she would be sustained for a time, times, and half a time. Rev. 12:12-14.
Commentators usually understand the woman to represent the experience of the church during the long years between the time of Jesus and the end. What the church goes through will not be a picnic. Much persecution befalls those who take the name of Jesus. Such suffering stands in startling contrast to the assertions of victory and power made in Revelation 5. How to relate Christian suffering to the victory of God has always been challenging.
No one noticed the smoke seeping from the windows of the rental truck as Timothy McVeigh pulled up to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that gray morning. McVeigh had lit two fuses to the 7,000-pound fertilizer bomb in the truck and then parked beside the building's day-care center. The explosion vaporized the front of the building, leaving a yawning cross-section of cables and smoke.
The dead would number 168, including 19 children. At least six of the survivors or those who lost loved ones have since killed themselves. When McVeigh was executed in 2001, he remained convinced that he had punished the U.S. government for its 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
For America, the bombing was an introduction to mass-casualty terrorism. The enemy was no longer uniformed platoons but lone extremists in our midst. They could not be easily ferreted out or understood. But Oklahoma City also wrote the book on recovery. The survivors have become indispensable companions for the families of the September 11 victims. And the memorial to the tragedy shows that traumatized cities can unite to protest unimaginable evil.
While this may be little comfort to those in the throes of loss or suffering, nothing is ultimately wasted with God. In His infinite wisdom even the greatest of tragedies can lay the foundation for healing and recovery. While hurt people often injure others themselves, many victims of tragedy find resources in God to become healers instead of hurters.
Lord, help me today to set aside bitterness and revenge as responses to the things and to the people who have hurt me. Help me to become a source of healing instead of pain.
Commentators usually understand the woman to represent the experience of the church during the long years between the time of Jesus and the end. What the church goes through will not be a picnic. Much persecution befalls those who take the name of Jesus. Such suffering stands in startling contrast to the assertions of victory and power made in Revelation 5. How to relate Christian suffering to the victory of God has always been challenging.
No one noticed the smoke seeping from the windows of the rental truck as Timothy McVeigh pulled up to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that gray morning. McVeigh had lit two fuses to the 7,000-pound fertilizer bomb in the truck and then parked beside the building's day-care center. The explosion vaporized the front of the building, leaving a yawning cross-section of cables and smoke.
The dead would number 168, including 19 children. At least six of the survivors or those who lost loved ones have since killed themselves. When McVeigh was executed in 2001, he remained convinced that he had punished the U.S. government for its 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
For America, the bombing was an introduction to mass-casualty terrorism. The enemy was no longer uniformed platoons but lone extremists in our midst. They could not be easily ferreted out or understood. But Oklahoma City also wrote the book on recovery. The survivors have become indispensable companions for the families of the September 11 victims. And the memorial to the tragedy shows that traumatized cities can unite to protest unimaginable evil.
While this may be little comfort to those in the throes of loss or suffering, nothing is ultimately wasted with God. In His infinite wisdom even the greatest of tragedies can lay the foundation for healing and recovery. While hurt people often injure others themselves, many victims of tragedy find resources in God to become healers instead of hurters.
Lord, help me today to set aside bitterness and revenge as responses to the things and to the people who have hurt me. Help me to become a source of healing instead of pain.
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