Fast forward to Monday morning, and I saw the Tittles again. But this time it was not a fun post with pictures and Scripture verses. It was a post about them. You see, the Tittle family lives in Arkansas. And the destructive tornadoes on Sunday night took the lives of their dad and two of their sisters, Tori (20) and Rebekah (14). Their other siblings, mom, and they are safe, but their house is gone. Yesterday the student forums were silent in memory and prayer of their tragedy.
Dennis Rainey, a friend of the Tittle family, wrote this:
The Tittles' 19-year-old daughter posted this on Facebook from a friend's house: “... my mom, and my six brothers/sisters are alright. We have lost three of our family … Dad, Tori and Rebekah, prayers would be appreciated. The house is gone stripped from the foundation. The Lord Gives and the Lord Takes away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”
It is painful sometimes to embrace God's sovereignty. Kery Seavey knows this. She wrote a meaningful article a few days ago, called "When God's Sovereignty Scares You." In it, she wrote:
Scripture reveals God as the loving King who ordains and oversees all suffering. If he were only portrayed as sovereign, we might be tempted to shrink back from him in fear. But because he's also shown to be our suffering God, who willingly stepped into unthinkable affliction on our behalf, we can be assured of his goodness and move toward him in love. [...]
Yes, our sovereign God may wisely allow what we most fear, but our suffering God convinces us of his deep love as we face these things. The powerful hands that uphold all things are the hands that were pierced for us. Freshly seeing God as God—the suffering, sovereign One—is freeing me from fear to trust again.
Why is it that we're tempted to think of God as sovereign without ever having suffered? We forget that it is He who has suffered most deeply. And we forget that He is good, that He won't let us suffer just for the fun of it. As John Piper said, all of our suffering is totally meaningful. And so we have a responsibility in our suffering - somehow, someway, only by the power of God, to glorify God. It isn't easy. It isn't always comfortable. We grieve, we endure pain, we cry, because He allows it for His good purposes. We can't see those purposes. But we don't need to. Our job is simply to trust Him, to love Him, and to lean on Him through it all.
And for those of us who are not in the midst of suffering right now, those of us who look on and grieve with others, we have a responsibility too. We must glorify God through service. That might be writing a sympathy card. It might be bringing food. It might be babysitting. And it is definitely through prayer.
So in light of these tornadoes in Arkansas, I hope that you will join with me in praying for the families of the victims, especially the Tittles. I hope that if you are suffering, you will trust God more through it. And if you are seeing suffering around you, I hope that you will serve in a way that demonstrates the love of Christ more fully.
For there are always faces on tragedy.