Worshiping During Times Like This

It has been difficult to watch the news lately. It’s difficult to see pictures of the people killed or injured in the Boston Marathon bombing and the Texas explosion. How are we to respond to all of this? It makes me think of Job’s response in Job 1.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. (Job 1:20)

Job was a godly man who lost his 7 sons and 3 daughters in the same day, along with his livestock and many of his servants. Upon receiving this news, he stood up and ripped his clothes in anguish. In an expression of deepest grief he then shaved his head and his tear-soaked beard. Soon he could no longer stand, falling to the ground in agony. And there, on the ground, head and face shaven, clothes torn, he worshiped.

Worship does not always wear a smile. Worship is not always joyful. Worship is not always musical. Worship does not always feel good. But worship is the Christian response to tragedy.

As we see the news and take in the horrific acts of violence and the terrifying acts of nature and accident, we need not brush them aside or pretend that everything is okay. We can worship honestly while living in and experiencing the hardest realities of this deeply troubled world.

How? Job worshiped by remembering and proclaiming true things about God. There on the ground he said,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)

For Job, these truths are what bubbled to the surface in the heat of those tortured moments. All that we have is from the Lord and belongs to the Lord. Like a hurting and confused child burrowing into his father’s chest, Job reminds himself that his Father is in control.

So I encourage you, don’t just despair and weep at your own suffering and the suffering of others. Worship.

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For more on how suffering works from a Christian perspective, see this sermon from Romans 8. Better yet, just go meditate on Romans 8.