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Majesty and Tragedy in Oklahoma

By Eric Barreto
Brett Deering/Getty Images
Debris covers the ground after a powerful tornado ripped Moore, Okla., on May 20. Brett Deering/Getty Images
May 21, 2013
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“O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” And from those heavens descended a deadly cloud.

“Out of the mouths of babes and infants ...” The children of Plaza Towers Elementary?

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” Indeed that is the question that troubles the heart of the faithful in times like these.

Can we still praise God? If so, how do we start? Can we possibly understand what happened in Moore, Okla.?

Don’t trust anyone who claims to comprehend the meaning of this storm. Don’t trust anyone who points with absolute certainty to a single cause for this storm. Don’t trust anyone who treats a tornado as anything but indiscriminate and cruel. These tragedies are not punishments or object lessons. Such natural forces do not reach their conclusion with a pat moral or a simple “they lived happily ever after.”

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Debris covers the ground after a powerful tornado ripped Moore, Okla., on May 20. Brett Deering/Getty Images
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