London Attacks - Finding God in the Midst of Disaster

The suicide bomb attacks on the London transport networks on 7 July united everyone in sadness and sympathy for the victims and their families, as well as regret and anger at the perpetrators, at the violence and the bloodshed. This sadness relayed the deep compassion that humans are capable of when they see others suffer in pain, the unique ability that man possesses to put himself in the other man’s shoes.

One of the most poignant images from the disaster was that of a rescue worker standing outside King’s Cross in a dirtied uniform clasping his hands in prayer. Indeed many turned to God for help that day, demonstrating just how quickly the physical world falls away when such enormous and incomprehensible tragedy strikes.

The tragedy that took place on Thursday, 7 July, was not the tragedy of a particular religion, but the tragedy of man. This was yet another example in our bloody history of man killing man. This is a tragedy that transcends all religious boundaries.

If we realise this then we can turn this tragedy into a uniting force. Man is man, regardless of religious or political preference, of social status, or nationality. When we remove the man-made divisions that so often blind us to our commonality, indeed our universality, this is when the cycle of hate can be broken. For those who accept God as our Creator, this is our common identity.

The change that must come about is not a change in God, but a change in man. Yet man seems perpetually hopeless at running its own affairs in peace, as history has more than amply demonstrated. It is precisely in this we are able to see one of the greatest human follies of our time: our over-reliance on secular governance.

If this event has proved one thing it is the limit of politics and the overarching secularism that plagues Western Europe. The change required is not a change of law, policy or party, but a fundamental spiritual change within man itself. A spiritually devoid government is sorely defunct in the face of such an enormous challenge.

If the change required is spiritual, then the solution required is also spiritual. God must be returned to the centre of our lives, but not in the way that He so commonly is: as the focus of blame and persecution. If the source of good itself is placed at the centre of our lives then would it not be inevitable that this goodness flow to every other aspect of our lives?

Some have asked 'where was God on 7/7?' But perhaps the answer lies in turning the question on its head: 'Were we with God?'

Christian Today would like to express its heartfelt sympathy to the victims of the London bombings and their relatives, and all those affected by these atrocities.