Woke up Monday morning to the news that there was another shooting that left people dead and injured. It was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and one of those dead was a six-year-old boy. Gilroy is in Northern California. I remember it as a quiet little farm town when we lived in California. It’s 88 miles from where my son, daughter-in-law and grandsons now live. I remember driving through Gilroy on several occasions – once when the garlic was being harvested. It was an aromatic experience to say the least.
Monday morning all I could think about was the evil that prompted such a senseless act. Thoughts like “What is our world coming to?” and “how can anyone do such a thing?” clouded my mind. I think the psalmist Asaph was having the same kind of morning when he sat down and wrote Psalm 73. He looked around and wondered what his world was coming to, and how evil seems to triumph over good. But before he ended his song, his attention was once more turned to the LORD God Almighty and he began to see not with his physical eyes, but with spiritual ones.
Asaph realized that knowing God Almighty gave him a far different future than those who did not. He said, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” [Ps 73:23-24]
If we only see this world with all its evil, we will live with hopelessness and in fear. But if we lift our spiritual eyes to the LORD and Savior of our soul, we will see that He is always with us. He holds us and guides us. And, however, we might exit this life – even by the hand of evil, our Father God will have the final say. He will take us into His Presence and glory.
