Last week I watched an episode of Oprah, where she visited Auschwitz death camp with Elie Weisel. Elie Weisel was transported to Aushwitz during the Holocaust. It was there that he got off the train and was immediately separated from his mother and sister. There that he saw them head off to the gas chambers, there that his father took his last breath, there that he experienced death in such vivid reality.


As I listened to his recollections, I couldn’t help but wonder what so many prisoners of the death camp must have wondered a million times a day. Where was God in all of this?

The picture I have developed of God is one that is active, just, involved in our daily struggles. It is God who protects us throughout childhood. It is God who leads us to our spouse. God’s guidance moves us to choose the right home, His love motivates us to serve others.

When we experience personal pain or tragedy, we revamp our view of God. We focus on his nearness in pain, his sufficiency of grace. Our spirit is revitalized after such a journey.

But then you hear about the atrocities such as the Holocaust, or the genocide in Rwanda, or the all-out war in Darfur and you wonder if this God that you have put your trust in, this view that you have clung to, is it a paradox?

There is not language for the atrocities that were committed within those gates. Forget words, there wasn’t language to speak of the horror.

Our picture of God then takes on another shape, one that He has possibly been guiding us toward all along. It takes the shape of action, of a voice, of unease.

"They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” Psalm 20:8

One of the things Elie Weisel said to Oprah was that people assume that once you have experienced suffering, you develop the capacity to accept suffering, but it is quite the opposite. Now that he has experienced suffering, he cannot and will not accept the pain and suffering of the world.

We are the mouthpiece of God to the world, we are the feet that carry the good news, and we are the hearts filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us not stand idly by.

posted by Kelly @ 11:27:00 AM