In 1932, Adolf Hitler and several members of his staff fell ill after dining at a hotel in Berlin. Hitler seemed least affected by the alleged poisoning. This incident was one of at least forty-two attempts to assassinate Hitler. Hitler was even quoted as saying: “Even today I am not ashamed to say that, overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time”. (Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 5).
Similarly, many believe God spared former President Donald Trump’s life after the recent assassination attempt. I believe God spared the lives of the wicked German leader, and the former President. Their lives were spared, not because they earned the right to be alive. Rather, because those were not the appointed times for either of them to die. We will all eventually die, but only God determines when. Old Testament Job understood this truth. In the middle of his significant losses, he uttered, “… the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).
Therefore, to be spared from any form of death is to experience the kindness of God. That expression of God’s kindness is intentional. It is intended to remind us of the certainty of death and the frailness of life. The apostle Paul contends that the kindness of God is intended to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). In other words, to be spared from death is not luck or chance. Rather, it is a wake-up-call. A call to realize that “… life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
That perspective on life also applies to fire-fighter Corey Comperatore. The same attempted assassin who shot Donald Trump, killed Corey. Corey’s daughter Allyson, described her father as “the best dad a girl could ever ask for”, adding that “he was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely, and also looked after our church and our members as family”. His death was not because God was wicked. The Psalmist would likely say in this situation, “… all the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). Or, “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”
(Psalm 116:15).
We cannot fathom why God allows some people to die tragically, and others to survive the same tragedies. Because tragedy is a fact of life, what about ensuring that we live prepared for tragedy. I am not only referring to having adequate health and life insurance. I am issuing a wake-up call, like the prophet Amos, to “… prepare to meet your God…” (Amos 4:12). So often I am reminded of that when I attend or officiate at funerals.
Tragedy leaves gaping holes for loved ones. The pain is so real, we sometimes ask, where is God when it hurts? He is just where he was when the Psalmist declared, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6). Let us never forget God’s response to Job, after Job and his friends attempted to explain pain. The Lord asked, “would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself” (Job 40:8)? On another occasion the Lord said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…” (Isaiah 55:8).
It is because God understands pain and loss, the Psalmist described God as “a Father to the fatherless and a defender of widows…” (Psalm 68:5). God was not absent when Corey Comperatore was killed. He allowed it. God also moved many to donate millions of dollars to reduce economic pain to the grieving family. Corey died when he covered his family and took the bullet for them. That family will always remember the hero who died for them. What a noble legacy.
Whatever the political outcome in the upcoming elections, Donald Trump and others who were shot should be different. Agreed, God spared their lives, not because of their nobility, but because God was issuing a warning. A warning to remind them and all of us of the frailness of life and the need to live in a state of readiness to meet our Maker. That reminder was an act of kindness and favor. To squander God’s kindness and favor is reckless. As quoted earlier, the kindness of God should lead to repentance, not arrogance.
