“Tragedy?”

The prudent leader of the world’s most powerful nation.

A scholarly administrator, a noble example.

A symbol of strength, youth, activity, vigah, hopes of the future.

One who, humanly speaking, still had before him so many years of outstanding service to the nation and humanity, future.

Such a one infamously assassinated long before his time.

A tragedy?

No. A blessing!! A blessing for his nation.

Blessing?!! Incomprehensible!

A blessing for the Republicans, perhaps.

But that is not what we mean.

No slaying by a Marxist madman is a tragedy.

For there is no tragedy in the world to those who love God and who are the called according to His purpose.

Apparent tragedy, yes.

But no real tragedy.

It is similar to the “errors” in the Bible.

Apparent errors, yes.

Statements that we are not now able to jibe.

Seeming contradictions.

But no real errors or contradictions.

If we knew all the facts we would find that God did not err in writing His Word.

Likewise, if we knew all the facts, we would find that there is no real tragedy in the world.

God did not err when he wrote Black Friday.

He even foreordained the precise trajectory of the bullet.

Its path was not outside his foreordained will.

The archer thought he shot “at venture,” at random, into the air, when King Ahab was killed. But God fulfilled His purposes by guiding that arrow to a point between the joints of armor.

Judas thought that he had free will in kissing the Son of God, but God did not leave the death of Christ and the resultant filling of heaven to the depraved, free will kiss of a robber (Acts 2:23; 4:28).

Sometimes we do not understand.

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.

To us it looks like a tragedy. It seems unfortunate. But this is unbelief.

God is all-wise, all-good, all powerful. Therefore, there can be no real tragedy.

Tragedy is not in the Christian’s vocabulary. It is a swear word. Blasphemous.

For all things, including the lining up of a president’s tousled head in a rifle’s telescope sight, work together for good.

That is, for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

EDWIN H. PALMER