How Do You Put God Into This Picture?

by Reverend Dr. Russell B. Hilliard, Sr.

Our youngest daughter Rebecca, a middle-school guidance counselor, spent one day recently in an elementary school with the classmates, families, and teachers of two students who had mysteriously died, tucked in their beds in Frederick, Maryland. During this extraordinary day, two of the classmates of the third grade student were writing letters and drawing pictures in memory of one of their dearest friends.

One of these students was African American and the other was Hispanic. The African American student suddenly looked up and asked her teacher: “How do I put God into this picture?” The teacher, who was already deeply sorrowful and weeping, hesitated.

Rebecca spoke for the teacher and asked this student: “Do you know how to draw an angel?”
The student’s answer was, “Oh yes, I know how to do that,” and she drew
a beautiful angel for the family of her friend who had died.

The question of this student of nine years started me to
wondering about our world and its apparent injustices. Five persons, a
father and four children, had mysteriously died. Two of the five family
members were students in this elementary school-a girl in third grade
and a boy in kindergarten.
While thinking about this penetrating question, I checked the news on
the Internet and read that more than 180 civilians had died that day in
Iraq.

I asked myself the student’s question: “How do you put God into this picture?”

I’m not really certain. I know that many persons have sought to
answer the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Yet, I
believe that God has been in this picture for a long time. In fact,
from before our earth’s creation, he was faced with both pain and pride
even among those who appeared to be a part of his Kingdom.

With the giving of mankind the freedom of will to choose death
or life, some parts of creation still choose death. I truly believe
that he is in the picture, for Matthew tells us that Jesus is
“Immanuel” or “God with us” (Matthew 1:23 NIV). He adds: “And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b NIV).
He longs for us to log on to him and to love him and to be loved by him.

During these crucial days, may we choose to put him into the
picture, at least in the scene we are sketching! He once said, “I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b
NIV). He walked “in our moccasins” all the way up the hill to Calvary
to bear our burdens, and he arose from the tomb to intercede for our
pain and sorrow.

Many disasters and heartaches are a part of the warp and woof of
our world today. Yet, God is near to comfort and counsel 365 days of
the year. He has not been seen, but he is around to bring hope and joy,
liberty and love, to all who seek to put him into the picture of their
life. As the aging Apostle John wrote, “No one has ever seen God; but
if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete
in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given
us of his Spirit” (I John 4:12-13 NIV).

We still do not know why these five persons died, but may we
remember the classmates of the two elementary school students who died
and the teachers who must face the student’s question: “How do you put
God into this picture?”