Telling Nassia

"Spider went away." "Spider is sleeping." "God took Spider home." "Spider will be back some day." "Spider won't be back." "Spider wasn't a good listener and she got hit by a train." "Spider is dead."

These are just a few of the ways I tried out (rejecting some immediately) in preparation for yesterday with the grandchildren. In the end, I fumbled through a death announcement, and then took out the Bible and gave an impromptu running paraphrase of Isaiah 11 and 65. Nassia was brave, and stifled tears through attempts to arrive at understanding. "Why?"

Why indeed. Little does she know how her grandmother struggles over that one. But I can identify at least three levels of causality in most tragedies under the sun: God did it. Satan did it. Man did it. The Bible clears God of any taint of evil (James 1:13-14). On the other hand, even man's and Satan's evil deeds are under God's sovereign control (Exodus 4:21, Acts 4:28).

Once upon a time, King David took a census of Israel. For reasons we can only guess at, it was a grievous sin---and grievously did David pay for it. But behold the different textural characterizations of his act:

"Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.' So the king said to Joab, the commander . . . 'Go . . . and number the people . . .'" (2 Samuel 24:1-2).

"Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders . . . 'Go, number Israel . . .'" (1 Chronicles 21:1-2).

The Lord did it? Satan did it? David did it? Either God has a lousy editor or He planted this surface inconsistently quite deliberately in order to illustrate the paradox that Nassia and I felt very personally on Wednesday morning, April 1: The reasons for Spider's death are complicated.

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