“I am reminded of the query made about man’s inhumanity to man in the concentration camps. The question was asked: At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?

And the answer came: Where was man?

For it was men alone who did this evil. Not God or religion or men acting in the name of God or religion. But simply men.” – Glenn Meade

I read the above a few weeks ago and it has stayed with me.

There have been numerous times in my life when I have cried out “Why God? Where are you God? Why aren’t you intervening in this situation, God?

The first time I recall crying out to God to intervene in a situation was when I was twelve years old and my parents announced they were getting a divorce.  I prayed and begged God to keep the family intact.  He didn’t…and the result was that I turned my back on Him till I was in my mid-twenties.

In hindsight there was absolutely nothing that God could do about the situation.

He gave my dad and mom freedom of choice, just as He gives each one of us the same freedom, and because of this He does not intervene.  If He did, we would be no more than little robots doing exactly what He has programmed us to do.

In Genesis 1:26 & 27 God said “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

God created us and gave us dominion over ourselves and the earth.

We are the ones who have chosen to destroy it.  We have introduced insecticides and pesticides into the earth, artificial hormones into animals, pollution into the air, deforestation, overexploitation of the seas and the earth…the list is endless.

We have brought famine, illness, destruction and wars upon ourselves – God is not responsible.

I marvel that this God who created a beautiful world and who made man and woman in His image has watched us, through the ages, destroy everything He gifted us. And…instead of turning His back on us in disgust, He sent His Son to die on a cross so that we would be able to spend eternity with Him. What amazing grace. What an amazing gift.

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you. There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”
― Frederick Buechner

Maybe we should start thinking less about our circumstances and what we are going through and more about God’s gift to us and the gift we can give Him – our acceptance that His love can and will carry us through anything, even death.