I have heard it said many a time, “Everything happens for a reason.” I have usually found people say this when they try to make sense out of something that seems beyond understanding or even tragic. This seems to me to take a fatalistic approach to life.
I do agree that everything happens for a reason, but not because it was fate, destiny, or God’s will. The laws of nature are one reason things happen. If one walks off a cliff gravity will bring that person to the bottom. Some people may walk away from such a fall and some may die. I think that is more a matter of luck than Divine will.
Sometimes the reason something bad happens is human error. There are stories of planes that crashed, and it was determined that someone did not do the proper maintenance on the craft.
Sometimes the reason something happens is due to sheer stupidity. For example, there is a pedestrian hit by a car because the walker is too busy texting to look where they are going. The person walks into oncoming traffic and in front of an unsuspecting driver.
I think most often I hear the phrase “everything happens for a reason” is to equate it with Divine Providence. I was most infuriated by this attitude when a Presbyterian pastor preached at the funeral of a high school friend. This happened the summer after my sophomore year in college. My classmate, I will call him Tim, had been on a date one summer night with his girlfriend. The two of them had a horrible argument. When Tim came home he was so upset he couldn’t sleep so he got up and went for a drive. He then became tired and fell asleep in his MGB. He ended up running into an overpass abutment on the expressway and was killed. The pastor at Tim’s funeral said, “God must have wanted Tim more than we did. That is why God took him.” That was the pastor’s reason. No, that is not the reason. The real reason why it happened was that Tim went out driving when he was tired and fell asleep – plain and simple.
What happened to Tim was a tragic thing for his family and friends, and it was senseless. God did not will that. I don’t think that God snatches a 20 year old from their families because God decides God wants them. I think God is with families at such times sending divine comfort and courage. God is present in Spirit and in those who surround the grieved with love and support.
I do not believe that God is moving us all around like chess pieces on the board of life. I believe God has preferences for our lives and may gently nudge us along a path. But which path we take is always our choice and God is with us on any pathway.
I do not believe that God wills us to suffer. Jesus said that God is promising life abundant – full, vibrant, with some pain along the way; but at the bottom-line joyful. God in Jesus has shared our suffering and knows our suffering. God instead of manipulating us through life walks with us in lightness and in darkness. And finally Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope. That did happen for a reason, and the reason is Divine Love.
Patrick+
