Adam Lanza, Guns, Moral Decay, Psychiatrists, & the Broken Hearted

There are the guns.

There is the psychology of Adam Lanza.

There is our collapsing social fiber.

There are a number of contributing factors that lead to moments like this.  Various political groups will rush to assign blame concerning the availability of guns.  Preachers and moralists will opine about the inevitability of situations like this in society that devalues life in it’s art, entertainment, and politics.  And, psychologists will dig deep into Adam Lanza’s life looking for factors that contributed to the moment where he woke up, shot his mom in the face, proceeded to school and destroyed and wrecked innocent lives.

It was truly a brutal day today in Newtown, CT.  4 and 5 years old children were among the 28 killed.  I also just found out that a college classmate, Noemi and her husband, Chad Guyton lost a cousin in the shooting.  Her cousin was a 1st grade teacher.  A senseless act of cowardice. Barbaric.

King Solomon says about days like these in Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4

1 For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.

⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.

I’m listening to these words.  I’ve concluded that tomorrow or some other day will be the days assigned to delving into all of the whys.  Today?  Today is a time to be broken hearted and to weep for the innocents who lost their lives in Newtown…and to weep with family members who will experience long lasting, enduring pain that their precious little son or daughter, whom they adore is never coming home.

As we embrace the pain of such tragic loss, be comforted by the words of Jesus directly to us and those we love from a distance.  He stood in his boyhood hometown of Nazareth and read from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah (chapter 61).  After reading from this passage, Jesus rolled up the scroll and said, today, this has been fulfilled.  He basically said, I am the One that is coming to minister to people like this…in situations like this.

It was a bold statement then in His hometown where they couldn’t wrap their minds around the Messiah coming from such humble beginnings.  It’s a bold statement today considering the weightiness of today’s tragedy.

I pray that these words he read from and fulfilled ring true to hurting hearts today:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
    for the Lord has anointed me
    to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
    and to proclaim that captives will be released
    and prisoners will be freed.
² He has sent me to tell those who mourn
    that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
    and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. ISAIAH 61:1-2

About these ads