On Thursday my alma mater, Florida State University, experienced the tragedy of another school shooting. This one unfortunately proved more fatal than the one I experienced in 2014 when I was a student there. There were 2 deaths and 6 injured. I bring this up because the question I face today is how can I remain faithful to God when such senseless violence is occurring, not just in my hometown but around the world daily?
Exodus 12-17 and Hebrews 11 help us to begin to answer this question.
Exodus 12-15:21 shows us God saving his children from subjugation and death in Egypt and their great Exodus from such slavery. The Israelites showed faith in crossing the Red Sea, and in the events leading up to such a trek. In Hebrews 11:29, the author brings this up among a long list of what he describes as faithful acts in the Old Testament meant to bolster the author’s audience to live faithfully.
The Exodus narrative continues; however, and is immediately followed by the Israelites lack of faith in God in the wilderness. Exodus 15:22-27 shows God faithfully and miraculously providing water after the Israelites grumbled for lack of water, chapter 16 demonstrates God’s faithfulness with the manna that he provided when they had no food and grumbled, chapter 17 demonstrates God’s faithfulness in providing water from a rock when they had no water and quarreled with Moses. Clearly, God faithfully provides even when his children are afraid of death as in Exodus 17:3.
One could be tempted to blame the Israelites for being weak and afraid. It is easy to point out that the God that just freed them from Egypt in miraculous ways, can obviously provide for them in miraculous ways in the desert. It is easy to dismiss the pain and fear they must have been experiencing; the hunger, the thirst, the anxiety of having left what they knew of as home. But, they were hurting.
It is difficult to stay faithful when life barrages us with hardship after hardship, suffering after suffering. But, we have a greater hope and a greater promise to look to in Christ. We also have a God who provides in ways that we don’t expect or don’t even particularly enjoy at times, as with the Israelites and the manna. He nevertheless provides. He is, and always will be, faithful.
It is telling that the Israelites are counted as faithful, at least in this one act in Hebrews 11:29 of crossing the Red Sea. It tells us that, though they struggled and failed to remain faithful, God’s faithfulness never fails. He provides for them and takes care of them over and over again. It is also a reminder for us that we need to remain vigilant in our faithful response to God’s faithfulness. Amy Peeler in her commentary on Hebrews states, “That they (The Israelites) were able to demonstrate faith, and then later did not, is a reminder to the listeners that they cannot depend on past faithfulness but must keep their hearts guarded daily from the deceptiveness of sin (3:13).” (Amy Peeler, Hebrews: Commentaries for Christian Formation, 344). We must keep the faith, while resting in the fact that God will always be constant in his own faithfulness.
Hebrews 11 is an encouragement to the original audience to remain faithful in response to God’s steadfastness even in the midst of great temptation to turn away due to suffering or persecution. It encourages us to remember to do the same. We must hold fast to God’s promises, his faithfulness, and the rest and salvation given to us in, through, and by Christ. That is how we remain faithful even amidst tragedy, Hebrews 12:1-2.