For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12 KJV
After the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, I became a hypervigilant news junkie, glued to the screen for every update. Having two school-aged children, my anxiety grew. I found relief when police began to wander the halls of their schools.
Two years later, 9/11 happened. I had walked into the hospital surgical waiting room to support a friend during her mom’s surgery and wondered why everyone was huddled around the TV. Then, along with millions around the world, I watched as the second plane hit the other tower, and as each tower fell.
One woman in the waiting room never looked up nor said a word. She knitted the entire time, seemingly oblivious to the disaster in view ten feet away. She never acknowledged it. I couldn’t believe her total lack of emotional response; and I judged her for it.
Mass shootings have become part of our collective consciousness as a country, a national PTSD of sorts. Every time one has happened, I have watched in anger, frustration, helplessness, and anxiety. And now that I have a young grandson, I wonder: What if it had been his elementary school?
Of course, I know God is in control. Of course, God is not the author of evil—we are, following our nature corrupted in the Garden. Of course, Satan is behind it all.
But then came the attack on schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas. After a pandemic that took a terrible toll on us yet again. And I’d had enough.
I prayed for the victims and their families. I prayed for the family of the shooter. I prayed Jesus would again say, “It is finished” and descend through the heavens to end all this madness. Then I turned off the TV.
I realized all along I had been giving shooters and terrorists exactly what they wanted—my attention. I was also giving Satan what he wanted, too. I fell victim to his spirit of oppression after terrible evil happens in this world.
I’ve changed my mind about the lady who knitted through 9/11. For all I know, she was praying silently the entire time. She surely heard the news; but perhaps she recognized there was nothing she could do at that moment. She may have focused on her immediate concern for someone in surgery. Maybe she had the right focus.
We can’t control terrorists and sociopaths, but we can control our responses.
Will I still do what I can to spread the good news of the gospel? Certainly. Will I work for peace and health among those whose lives I touch? Absolutely. But from now on I will ban from my life any fear surrounding such evil events.
I urge everyone to put evil in its place and kick it to the curb—out of your life. The next time a mass casualty occurs, I will turn off the TV, pray to God Almighty, donate where I’m led, and move forward with my life.
Jesus already won our fight against Satan by dying on that cross. Our most powerful weapons are faith and prayer. Will you join me?
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 NASB