The Sunday edition of the New York Times ran a headline on April 30, 1995 that read “A Shaken City, Ever Devoted, Turns to God”. This article covered the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal office building which tore away 1/3 of the building—killing 168 men, women and young children.
I was nearly 14 when this event happened, just a freshman in high school. I remember that it was the subject of every class. A TV was on in every room providing horrific imagery and further updates into the psychosis of someone who could do such a thing.
To be clear, this will not be an article in which we analyze the depravity of the bomber, Timothy McVeigh, and his helpers. You can read the FBI reseach by clicking the link below for details of those involved:
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing
When we look at this particular subject matter— mass tragedies that have plagued history— there is a tendency to lock the memories away in the “Evil Event=Bad” file of our brains. Dare we labor to see God’s plan even in the worst circumstances?
First we must acknowledge the Biblical evidence that God is in control of all things:
Ephesians 1:17-23 “…the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
Colossians 1:9-18 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” [Remember in tandem with this to consider the Apostle John’s description in John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”]
How then, if God is and always has been in control of all things, would He allow for something like this to take place? The only true conclusion that we can come to is that it in some ways serves the purpose of His will. Any time there is death, we must remember that is on us. We are indeed depraved beings and it was through that original sin of Adam by which death was introduced to begin with. It does not become Adam’s fault that this bombing took place, but the idea of revenge and bloodlust began there. Even Adam’s children bear this out:
Genesis 4:1-12 “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”
There will be some who struggle to accept the guilt of sin in an event like this. Surely, it would be easier for us to place it all on the head of the one who lit the fuse, however, he was merely acting out of his own fallen nature. We who are saved were also impulsive, violent, and reckless in our thoughts and actions before salvation was revealed. Though we may not have blown up any buildings, we had the capacity to do so.
Many Christians will quote Romans 8:28 which reads “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” It is a good thing that we run to this verse, and I do not hope to deter any readers from continuing to do so. Take a good look at this verse though. There is nothing here that states our lives will be easy or without heartache. It plainly says that all things are going to operate as foreordained of God “according to His purpose”. Even the tragedies that occur in our lives, as a result of the curse placed on mankind by God Himself because of the sinfulness of man, will work toward the purpose God has for us.
"Where was God at 9:02 AM?" is the title of a book by Sandy Dengler and Robin Jones that I found in a local used book store recently. It provideds case studies of a few dozen folks involved in the incident at Oklahoma City 30 years ago. I have underlined in my copy many of their notes that I hope to go back to for my own studies, but I want to lay a few side by side for us to consider here as we close. Before we proceed, we must answer labor to answer this question: Is it okay for us to acknowledge the completeness of God’s will in the face of tragedy—and not just the good that we have gained or the losses we have suffered?
“…a local news reporter interviewed David. At one point, the camera closed in on him for a close-up and he said ‘My mom and I know what a second means now.’ The reporter asked, ‘What do you man by that?’ ‘When the bomb went off, my daddy could have died in a second.’ David responded.”
This became a beacon as other media picked up the phrase from that interview: “Now we all know what a second is.” God caused for a spirit of gratefulness to fall over the living. Maybe it did not fall on everyone, perhaps it was just one of many emotions that some experienced…but it was an emotion experienced during a time of great terror—only God could have done that!
Later in their book they laid out a series of “what ifs” in regards to how things could have been different had one person’s car started that day, or had traffic patterns been different, or even if doctor’s appointments had not fallen as they did. In that chapter [two if you are looking for it], they spoke of the second floor day-care center. Three weeks before the bombing the manager’s contract had expired. The new manager replaced several teachers which caused many parents to pull their children from the center abruptly. As a result, on the day of the attack, the center served “less than half the children that it had just a month before.” Fifteen children and three workers died in the bombing, but had it happened in March, there would have been forty plus children in that center.
As pyrotechnicians were consulted over how the bomb did what it did, many theorized that had the day started out cloudy or rainy instead of sunny, the low cloud ceiling would have deflected the impact and pressure waves upward allowing for them to bounce down to the ground again. This would have caused destruction on a much larger scale. Can we acknowledge that though you and I likely would not have known that, and it’s likely that McVeigh didn’t either, God surely did!
Beloved God is more than a genie granting wishes, He knows what will truly do us good and cause us harm. Philippians 4:18-20 “…I have all, and abound: I am full…my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Psalms 37:25-26 “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth;
and his seed is blessed.”
One more quote from His Holy writ worthy of memorization: Psalms 23 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
Remember that we are not “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) because we happen to survive but because we have the victory through Him (I Cor 15:54-57 & I John 5:4)!
For more details of the OKC Bombing, please click above. This is special agent Barry Black’s account. He states “This involved 1,008,000 man-hours. It was 1,400 people working about 840 days to come up with the volume of information that went into the case.”