My prayer for the families of the Orlando terror victims and those who are struggling with God regarding this evil attack is Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (ESV).

As a church family we prayed and talked about this heartbreaking attack last Sunday at CrossHope Chapel, but I want to share with you two things that came to my mind after hearing of it, in hopes that it may help you process it.

The first thing I thought about after hearing of the Orlando terrorist attack was the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:12, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (ESV).

Jesus mentioned this as a specific sign of His soon return. Lawlessness seems to go hand in hand with lovelessness because it takes a cold heartless evil person to kill another simply because they stand in opposition to one’s religion. If you think of it, death is the aim of all things evil.

The terrorist situation in Orlando, like other hate and Islamic motivated attacks on innocent people and society, is an obvious battle between death and life. Which is exactly the defining difference between our Savior and Satan.

The mission of both Jesus and Satan is clearly stated in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

When we hear the news media or politicians spin these situations in their attempt to push an agenda, remember John 10:10 and it will help to decipher the real truth. When we hear of these terrorist attacks, remember the lesson of Ephesians 6:12, for the warfare we see on earth is merely a reflection of the spiritual warfare in the Bible.

The second thing that I thought about after hearing of the Orlando terrorist attack was something that my grandmother use to frequently say whenever bad news was shared about others, “Except for the grace of God, there go I.”

The gay night club was targeted because of its clientele, but anyone of us could have been the target of the radical Islamist terrorist and anyone of us may yet be targeted because of a different identity or location.

We grieve with anyone who knows lost, pain, or despair, because we are all subject to sin, evil, and harm. Any terrorist attack, tragedy, accident, disaster, or whatever the unwelcome circumstance may be as reported in the headlines, always causes me to evaluate my own response had I or a loved one been involved.

It’s probably part of my nature to expect the worse and when it comes to seeing the circumstances of these times, I take comfort in several verses and some of those are as follows:

• Psalm 27:1 that my Lord is my light and there is no need to fear what others can do to me.

• Jeremiah 29:11 that my Lord has a plan for my life and whatever happens to me is in accordance with God’s approval.

• Hebrews 9:27 that the sand will runs out on my hour glass of life at God’s timing and I am ready to face my Lord standing on His promise of salvation (John 6:47).

• Philippians 1:21 that just as Paul saw the options between living and dying as a win-win either way, so do I.

Let’s continue to pray for those who hurt because of this evil attack, let’s keep in mind that our Savior is coming soon to take us out of here, and let’s fix the very promises of God in the Bible in our hearts and minds as we continue to move in these dark days of history.

A previous post related to this topic:

Why Evil?