The Dangers of Asking Why?

"Why" is a 3 letter word that can make a person crazy. It's natural to want to ask why tragedy happens. It's also our tendancy to try and put a purpose on a disaster- like the recent tragedy in the mines. We want an explanation- someone to blame. Not long after those two planes crashed into the towers, a well known religious leader took it upon himself to announce that it happened because gays were employed in those buildings. After the Tsunami, a lot of people were shaking their heads with knowing looks, tisk-tisking. I heard it said that the hurricane was the judgement of God upon sinners in New Orleans. They held up as evidence the fact that a whole street of casinos, strip clubs and hotels were leveled. However, when taking stock of the damage, we find there were also a lot of churches, hospitals, nursing homes and a YMCA destroyed so what does that say?? I don't think it is ever our place to speak for God in these circumstances. If I were the evil one, I would go around causing chaos and disaster hoping that well-meaning Christians would give the blame to God's vengeance. I would entice many to say things like "If you people would just clean up your act, this wouldn't happen" knowing as a result, a lot of people would turn away from God in anger and distrust. But this mindset says bad things only happen to bad people. Truth is, bad things happen to all of us- good or bad. Good things also happen to upstanding citizens and criminals alike. So it's just not as cut and dried as we like to make it sometimes. God was not sleeping when the Tsunami hit, but I'm not sure He sent it either. Who can say? I believe God mourns every tragedy. Yes, He allows bad things to happen, if He didn't let sin run it's awful course, we would be content with the way things are and never hope for something better. Instead of sitting around discussing "why" maybe it would be better to ask "What can we do to help?"