Our world is full of tragedy. Natural disasters occur in this country and across the globe: earthquakes kill hundreds, tornadoes level homes, wild fires destroy thousands of acres. Disease hits us, or those we love, and makes this life seem tenuous and fragile. And then we read of another mass shooting, in a school or a theater or a church, and we are shook to our core again. In fact, I just did an online search on “mass shootings,” and found a whole website devoted to keeping statistics on this. It listed a hundred just since January, and that is not counting terrorism in this country and abroad.

I think back to the events of December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Words defy emotions. There is literally nothing to say. What happened that day was tragic and senseless. Parents are without children. Children are without mothers. An entire town was rocked to its very core. All that remains are questions, questions without answers. And it has happened numerous times since then, and it will happen again.

And the typical response is to look for someplace to assign blame. Gun control advocates tell us that we should restrict access to guns. Gun rights advocates tell us that we should arm principals and teachers. Some say that we need better care and provision for those with mental illness. Some lay the blame with the lack of God in our schools and society. You see, this is what we do in America. Someone or something is to blame and so we aim legislation at the guilty party. Government has evolved to the point that protection has become its primary function: the EPA protects us from toxins in the soil, the FDA protects us from toxins in our medicines, the FCC protects us from toxins on the airwaves. And we feel that we are entitled to this protection, that we should be shielded from any kind of harm, that we shouldn’t have to suffer. And if we do, then it is somebody’s fault. Somebody caused this or at least should have prevented it.

And then at some point, somebody asks, “Where was God in all of this?” And that’s the question that bothers me the most. I can live with all of the other questions, especially the unanswerable ones, but that one is too convenient. We don’t like God sticking his nose in our business until we need him. We don’t like God being God until we need him to be God for our benefit. And as soon as the world gets a bit unruly, we expect God to come and restore order. Better yet, God should have been keeping order all along. When shooters go on the rampage or tornadoes level a city or a wife dies at the hands of a drunk driver, it was God who was asleep at the wheel.

Here’s the deal. I’m through apologizing for God. I am. As a Christian, I am no longer going to feel defensive when the media or the experts or the social commentators question the existence or the power of God just because horrendous tragedies occur, unthinkable as they may be.

God is God, take him or leave him. It’s no skin off of his nose if you don’t like him. He’s not going to get his feelings hurt if you get mad at him or think that a calamity “proves” that he doesn’t exist. “Well, how can you say that there is a God when such tragedies occur?” This is what I want to say. “Oh, just shut up. That’s a bunch of mindless drivel! It’s a cop out. Please, come up with an original idea. Oh, and since when did you get all that concerned about God!?”

I mean, what are we going to do, expect God to protect us from all difficulty and tragedy? But then where do we stop? Asking God to remove disease—well, that’s sounds reasonable. Asking him to protect us from terrorism—that does not seem too much to ask of God, either. But how about other things? How about providing us a job? How about a certain level of income? Do we expect God to give us a continually harmonious marriage or children that always obey us in every respect? How about a better job—more money, less responsibility? How about a better body—no extra weight, straighter teeth, and hair that looks like the lady on a Clairol commercial? How about a life with no traffic, completed To-Do lists, relationships that always satisfy, and a home right off the Street of Dreams? You see, something is wrong with everything. This world is not as it should be.

Too often, we act as if God’s only role is some sort of divine pain reliever. God’s chief role, however, is that of savior. And tragedy simply proves that we need a Savior. If you want to assign blame, look in the mirror. You see, we’re all screwed up; it’s just that some of us are screwed up in ways that are a little more socially acceptable than others. But whether you are a mass-murderer or you secretly look at porn on the internet or you put unreasonable expectations on your kids or you are self-righteous, you’re screwed up. And that means you need a Savior.

“Where was God in all of this?” I’ll tell you. He is there, in the manger and then healing and teaching and then on the cross, bringing redemption and restoration to a world that desperately needs salvation, where people die senselessly and natural disasters take away lives and homes and possessions and lives are wrecked due to abuse. You see, your view of suffering exposes your view of God.