The Search is Over

At 2:45 this afternoon, I received word that they had found the body of Benjy Heil. It appeared that he had drowned, though the cause of death has not been determined yet. Though this puts an end to the nearly 6 day search for this 7 year old boy, it does not put an end to the sorrow that the Heil family now feels at the loss of their youngest child. Thank you for praying for his return, and I ask for your continued prayers for their family in this time of mourning.

In events like these questions inevitably arise, and our understanding of God, and His purposes, really is challenged. It is also easy to offer pat, simplistic answers that simply regurgitate theology and do not truly address the problem at hand. Lest there be any confusion, God is completely sovereign, even over such horrific circumstances. He is not silent on anything, even this. I do not want to challenge God, nor offer simplistic answers, but it is times like these where we realize that all is not right in the world. As we live in the time between the times, the evil and tragedy remind us that this is not natural, that Creation is groaning for redemption.

But there will come a day when creeks will no longer swallow up little boys, when mudslides will not wipe out entire villages of people, when the carnivorous lion will lie down next to the unassuming lamb and not devour it, and when our disease ravaged bodies will be made whole again at the coming of our Christ to redeem His people and claim the final victory over Satan and death. Until then we pray and wait in eager expectation like Paul tells us in Romans 8:18-25:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Please pray for the Heil family in this time. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

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