In an op-ed piece written by Leslie Linthicum that appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on 01/24/13. Ms. Linthicum stated regarding the tragic deaths of the Greg Griego family, “We can spend a lot of time speculating on what was going on in Nehemiah’s heart last weekend. But we know that Jesus did not protect the Griego family, Nehemiah included, from evil.”Yet, earlier in the article she stated, “Nehemiah reloaded the weapons, put them in the back of the family van and thought about going to Walmart, where he intended tokill a lot more people and go out with guns ablaze in a shootout with the cops. Instead, he ended up at his church and, thankfully, the death toll stopped at five.”
The twisted logic of those who oppose Jesus is that they fail to take into account free will. The Lord allows us to choose this day either life or death. On the surface, it appears that Jesus is impotent to protect a family that choose Him. The Lord chooses to limit His sovereignty to allow free will, as we saw on 9/11. But we should also understand that Jesus directed Nehemiah to leave his guns in the family mini van instead of him shooting up the local Walmart or Calvary Chapel.
What can we learn from this and other tragedies? That safety and preservation of life is bought with the loss of freedom? That Jesus is without power in our world? No. We learn that everyone has a choice. Even those who have trusted the Lord. Death is an unnatural part of this fallen world and is always tragic. Jesus allows death to continue until this age is finished. Christians must understand that we must continue to choose the Lord and His ways each and every day. Evil can still be invited into the most christian of homes and we are each allowed this choice. Jesus did protect the Griego family. According to the testimony of those who knew them, they trusted in the Lord and they are with Him even now. We are not to fear the one who can take our lives, but the one who can take our life and our soul.