DEALING WITH TRAGEDY
Matthew 5:4
INTRODUCTION
Tragedy happens many times a day to many people around the world.
News is filled with tragic events each day of our lives. Most times we are not directly affected but someone always is. Some tragic events are planned, But most are not. Some tragic events are the result of poor choice, but Most are not.
Tragedy is defined as an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime or natural catastrophe.
In the world there are numerous wars that causes destruction of property
And lost of lives. These are the result of choice of a few people that affect
The mass populations.
Then there are natural disasters that cannot be predicted or controlled that
Causes lost of lives and properties, During the fourth of July 2025 200 plus
People, including men, women and children died do to an unexpected flood
Along a Texas river. 27 children on a church summer camping trip are included
I cannot imaging the pain, suffering and grief the surviving families are
Feeling now. I am sure some feeling guilt for having chose to be on the
River that day.
.
I have to ask why God allowed this to happen? Why didn’t the church leaders Have some special insight to what would happen? Our ways are not God’s and our Thoughts are not thoughts. We are all grieving for family, friends and relatives of those that died. It is an unimaginable tragedy
It is difficult to understand how this tragedy or any tragedy works out for
The good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes ( Romans 8:28)
Tragedy is no surprise to God, He knows the end from the beginning. God
Knows everyone by name and day of their birth and the day they will die. It is all part of God’s plan for man. No one is given an expiration date.
We are all at God’s grace and mercy. Instead of looking at why. Lets look at how to handle tragedy when it occurs. One writer use tragedy as an acronym to explain the process,
T Trust Proverb 3:5-6
Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own
understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy
Paths.
It is difficult to think of something positive when you are suffering from
The lost of a love one. Believers must trust that Lord is in control and
knows what He is doing. I believe in the Lord. But do I trust that He is
In control of my situation?
My wife and I went to buy some bar stools for our counter, The question
we had was the weight limit of the stool. I believe the specification
given. The only way to know if it will hold my weight is to sit on it. Trust
is to sit on the stool and see by experience that it will hold my weight.
The only way to trust God is to sit in His seat and experience Him
Holding us up. As believers we must trust God to get us through difficult
Circumstances. `
Proverbs 3:5 says trust God not our emotions. A sense of lost is an
Important emotion. But we cannot allow our emotions to make
Decisions. Our hearts must always be focused on God and not our
Feelings.
We must lean on God. not what we think or reason. In difficult times,
Our reasoning is clouded by our circumstances. Since God is real in
Our lives we must acknowledge His presence, His control and wait
Patiently for Him to guide us through the situation.
R RELINQUISH James 4:7-8
Relinquish To abandon, surrender something, give up right of Control
Since Jesus paid the price for our salvation. We surrendered
ourselves to Him when we accepted Him as our personal Savior. He
has the right to control us. We belong to Him.
Since He is God, all knowing, all powerful and everywhere all the time,
He knows best for us.
James 4:7-8
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
We should live our lives in submission to the rule of God at all times, not just in times of turmoil. By submitting ourselves to the Lord daily we will ready In times of trouble to allow God to guide us. We should first look to him for comfort and understanding.
Notice it is the devil that shows up in troubled times with a loud voice to abandon God and take on the hopelessness of the world.
Job a righteous man was allowed to suffer multiple tragedies at the
Hands of Satans. He lost all his possessions, all his children and his
Health. He also lost the support of his wife who told him to curse God
And die. It was the hope in His Lord that encouraged him to press on.
He realized he could not accept the good in life without accepting the bad.
Rom 12:1-2
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, (which is) your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Therefore R could also represent the renewing of your mind. Renewed
From doom and gloom to hope in the Lord. Renewed from sadness to
Joy. Renewed from the worst to the glory of the Lord.
A Accept Romans 8:28
At some point in hurting we must accept the fact that the situation is in God’s hand and He allowed it to happen. Then we have to look at what part we played in the circumstance. Did we make a choice to be at the place the tragedy took place?
Rom 8:28
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, (even) to them that are called according to (his) purpose.
When you are in pain, when you are hurting, when you are grieving, this is not the verse you want to remember. You don’t want to hear “its all good”.
It not all good with you. You want to know why and when will the pain stop.
Job 2:9-10
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Romans 8:28 is precisely what we need to make any sense of God’s plan for our circumstance. Job’s circumstance was not just for Job, but for us in this generation. The pain we feel is real, and difficult to handle. But we cannot allow the pain to rule the rest of our lives.
G Grieve
Grief is defined as a deep and intense emotional response to loss, particularly the death of a love one, but also encompassing the lost of relationship, jobs, or other significant aspects of life.
Grief is a natural human response to lost. Jesus our Lord and Savior
Grieved at the tomb of Lazarrus who died 4 days earlier.
John 11:33
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews (also) weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
35 Jesus wept.
It is my belief, that Jesus grief was not for himself or Lazzarus, but for
Unbelief of the people.
I also believe that root cause of grief is unbelief of God’s Word and disobedience. Grief among human kind started in the Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve had to deal with murder of Abel by Cain,
Lamentations 3:32
32 For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindness.
Each us will experience a time of grief but also the compassion of God
Doing our grief. You circumstances do not go unnoticed by God.
1 Peter 1:6
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,
God expects us to grieve but not for long. The stronger we are in our faith, the less our grief time will be. I Peter tells us that we will have many times.
Of grief. Notice the text informs us that God determines our time and need for grief. It is something about grief that draws into a closer relationship with
God to seek answers and comfort.
Grieving often time is warped up in guilt. There are tragedies that happen
that we have no control over. We blame ourselves for what happen as if a different decision would have changed the outcome. To know that God is in control can relieve the guilt.
E Embrace
Phil 3:12-16
12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing (I do), forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before.
14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you:
16 only, whereunto we have attained, by that same (rule) let us walk.
As believers we have to embrace that fact that God’s plan for us is to
Perfect our faith in Jesus Christ. Perfection is a daily process that continues until the day God calls us home. The trials, tribulations and griefs are part of the process.
We need to get in the habit of stretching toward perfection in the things that God puts before us. Our minds must be tuned to God for Him to reveal His
Plan to us. To attain what God planned we must walk in the image and likeness of Him.
We must embrace the fact that god allows our grief and sometimes is the
Author of our grief to perfect us.
DEFEAT
Rom 8:37-39
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are not just conquerors, we are more than conquerors. Through the
Power of the Holy Spirit we can conquer grief. We can conquer the aftermath of tragedy. The Holy Spirit is that indwelling power to guide us
Through tough times. Tragedy is not an indication that God has left us, it
An indication that God is with us and loves us. There is a reason we survive tragedies and it is for the perfection of the good work God has
Planned for us.
Exodus 14:13-14
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
The fear of the unknown is always before us. We can conquer that
Fear too. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but power love and
Sound mind. It is in troubled times that our mind can become unsound,
Because we want to do what makes us feel good.
Troubled times are the times when we become impatient, because we want
To get out of it. We want it to be over. We want the hurt to stop. We move
To quick and are likely to make wrong decisions. Accepting our weakness
And our brokenness And allowing the Holy Spirit to guide is the only way back to a sense of wholeness
Y YIELD NOT TO TEMPTATION
1 Cor 10:13
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.
When one is grieving from sudden lost of a love one, the temptation is to questioned God’s authority by asking why, to blame others, to blame
Self or to give up hope in God. This thought line is Satan’s influence.
According to the text we are equipped to handle tragedy. Second, God faithful to provided a way for us to escape the grief we feel. And third God has equipped us to endure this time of trial. We are stronger than we think
Because God is with us.
To get out of the grief mode we must see God’s Control
We must see God’s purpose
We must accept the situation as God’s work
We are allowed to grieve , for a time and move on
We must embrace the opportunity to be perfected
We must see ourselves as more than conquerors
We must not yield to the the temptation of failure
SUMMARY
Dealing With Tragedy is a process to recovery. It takes time, patience, and work. You cannot change the past but you can change the future. God is with you all the way
T TRUST Proverbs 3:5-6
R RELINQUISH James 4:7-10
A ACCEPT Romans 8:28-29, Job 2:14
G GRIEVE Matthew 5:4
E EMBRACE Philippians 3:12-14
D DEFEAT Romans 8:37-39
Y YIELD I Corinthians 10:13
I want you to remember several important point about tragedy
Tragedy does not mean God does not love you or have abandoned you.
Tragedy is not a punishment
Tragedy does not mean God has no purpose for your life
God allow tragedy in our lives to strength us and grow us in the image of Jesus Christ
