Always with you

It's taken me a while to write this entry (mostly because my schedule has been crammed lately), but after having time to "stew in my juices" I hope the following exposition is worth something.

In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, a lot of people have been asking where God fits in all of this. It happens nearly every time there is some cataclysmic event that shocks the world to attention. Not to mention that it's usually quasi-religious people asking religious "authorities" these kinds of questions. The questions usually go something like this (following a typical pattern dealing with theodicy...you can google that word):

"Why would God let this happen?"

"How could God do this?"

"Where is God/hope in the midst of all of this devastation and despair?"

These aren't unfounded questions, but it does seem (at least to me) that most of the people who are asking these sorts of questions are comfortably stationed in their (still standing) homes in other locations, though I am sure some in Haiti are asking the same questions.
Of course, when these kinds of questions get asked, there are always those who are willing to step up with an answer--some of them good (comforting) and most of them terrible (empty, cliche). Some of those answers may go like this:

"God's ways are higher than ours."

"We can't understand God's will."

"They made a pact with the devil..." (though that one has gotten a lot of press lately, it isn't all that uncommon, especially when it sounds like: "They are being punished for their sins," etc.)

Some of the deeper attempts at answering those questions may sound like this:

"God is with the suffering people."

"God is on the cross, feeling the people's suffering."

"God is in the good will of those aiding the devastated."

I'm not saying these aren't necessarily "good" responses to an extremely difficult question, but maybe what I am saying is that we are asking the wrong question to begin with. What if, rather than asking, "Where is God in the midst of the present devastation?" we asked, "Where were God's people/God's Church/etc. before the devastation happened?" Now, when I say that, I have in mind those tragedies that take place in these extremely poor, destitute locations.
Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere before the earthquake; in fact, it seems like folks on the news can't report about Haiti without mentioning that as if it is the country's motto. It seems to me, the more theologically correct question to ask is "Why did we (i.e. Christians, Americans, Christian-Americans) allow Haiti to slip to the periphery of our vision of care and concern, all the while it plummeted into incredible poverty?" (By the way, did you know that there are cruises that stop in Haiti?!)
I get the feeling we're kind of like those earliest followers of Jesus when a woman with an alabaster jar anoints his body (including his feet). They want to know why he allowed such waste when this stuff could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Like us, I think they asked the wrong question, and you can hear it in Jesus' response: "...the poor you always have with you..."
The poor you always have with you. Not just now, not only after an earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, or economic depression, but ALWAYS. Maybe, in our efforts to help Haiti, we're standing by, watching the apparent waste of lives as they are lost in the rubble, when we hear Jesus' voice say to us, "You will always have them with you."

CPT