Going to Church with Friends from Mumbai during the Seige in India

By the time my Kuwaiti Church fellows had all gathered for Church on Friday morning, November 28, 2008, the Siege of Mumbai was now nearly two full-days old--and well over a hundred had been killed at 16 different locations in Mumbai.

The particular Indian who did "the welcoming message" in our church service had also lived a great portion of his life in Mumbai-his wife and kids are still there.  This Indian's name is Hemant, and he noted that a friend of his brother's had been buried the previous evening-after getting killed in the first moments of shooting on Wednesday night.

Hemant shared, "Sometimes we wonder after such horrors, 'Is God in Control?'"

Hemant then chose to read from the Book of Isaiah. 

By the way, Chapter 40 begins with this statement: "Comfort, Comfort my people says your God".

However, Hemant read the more difficult portion, beginning in verse 12:

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
       or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
       Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
       or weighed the mountains on the scales
       and the hills in a balance?"

That is, the reader of Isaiah continues to hear the news that nations are but a tiny piece of sand in a bucket. 

Naturally, for many people around the globe, this message is hardly comforting on one hand.

On the other hand, the message is not only rational but still spiritually comforting to others who can endure to proceed in verses 14, 15, 17, & 18.

"Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
       and who taught him the right way?
       Who was it that taught him knowledge
       or showed him the path of understanding?

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
       they are regarded as dust on the scales;
       he weighs the islands as though they were fine   dust.                                                         

Before him all the nations are as nothing;
       they are regarded by him as worthless
       and less than nothing.

To whom, then, will you compare God?
       What image will you compare him to?"

In times of trauma we need to trust in someone or something.  However, we also need to move on-and learn.

RATIONAL CHOICES?

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