Panic

“There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," narrated Luana Santos Silva to Globo TV network. The survivor was responding to a question about the blaze in a nightclub that killed 233 people and injured about 117 in Santa Maria, Brazil.

What was supposed to be a night of fun for nearly 1,500 people in Kiss nightclub turned into a horrific inferno of suffering. One report said, “There was no fire alarm. There were no sprinklers or fire escapes. And when a band member tried to put out a fire that had been started by pyrotechnics, the extinguisher didn't work.”

Many who have lost their loved ones in the tragedy are seeking not just for answers on whom to blame, but also on the question, “Why?” Author C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain”, wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  Why? In Job, it is inscribed, Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and full of trouble. (Job14:1)

Jeff Miller in his study provides: “Reasons vary as to why God allows tragedy: At times he uses it to punish individuals or nations for their sins; other times to discipline or train up the whole individual; other times to build specific character qualities into an individual or people; other times to prepare an individual to subsequently minister to others undergoing similar tragedies. But the lowest common denominator—what God always has as His reason—is that humankind should turn our eyes toward Him.”

To those who perished in the fire, we pray for their souls to return to God’s loving care.  To those who suffer in the loss of their loved ones, we pray for God to give them strength in this moment of adversity.

To us all, may tragedies like the Santa Maria fire teach us: To be humble; to accept our humanity; to acknowledge our mortality. In our sadness, in our brokenness, we should believe God for His wisdom, for His power, for His love. “And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand.” (1 Peter 5:6)