On Monday, March 28, 2023, a woman entered Covenant School armed with firearms. She shot and killed 6 people, 3 of them being 9 year old children. Covenant School is a Presbyterian Christian Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter was a former attendee of this school and deliberately targeted it to carry out her act. Obviously, many questions come to mind when we have horrific tragedies such as this one. Why did this person do this? How evil would one have to be to go into an elementary school and kill people, including little children? How depraved do you have to be? And some might even ask, “Why did this happen?”Why would God allow this horrific event to take place?” I can’t even begin to imagine what the victims’ families are even thinking, especially the parents who lost their children, their babies. This is absolutely heartbreaking, and it is hard to try to make sense of all this.

One thing that we do know is that evil never sleeps. Evil is absolutely rampant in this world. Now I know many will try to blame the gun and say that it was the gun that drove the woman to murder 3 children. No, it was not the gun. It was sin. Sin drove her to commit this heinous act. Her heart was full of wickedness and depravity, and for whatever reason, she decided to unleash it onto this school full children from kindergarten to the 6th grade. Again, it is hard to make sense of all this, and a tragedy such as this might lead you to ask God why He let this happen? In all honesty, I don’t have an answer. I don’t know why God would allow and why He didn’t take this person out or even redeem her before she committed this evil act. I am not God, so I don’t know His mind. His ways are above mine, and His thoughts are above mine. What I do know is that He is sovereign. He is sovereign over all things, including tragedies such as this one. And I know that He will not let evil or evildoers go unpunished.

In times such as these, the Word of God brings so much clarity. Particularly for this shooting, let’s look at Psalm 37.

A Psalm of David.
Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming.
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow
To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.
Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their bows will be broken.

Better is the little of the righteous
Than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
But the Lord sustains the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
And their inheritance will be forever.
They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
And in the days of famine they will have abundance.
But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish⁠—like smoke they vanish away.
The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and gives.
For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.

Depart from evil and do good,
So you will abide forever.
For the Lord loves justice
And does not forsake His godly ones;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
The righteous will inherit the land
And dwell in it forever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
His steps do not slip.
The wicked spies upon the righteous
And seeks to kill him.
The Lord will not leave him in his hand
Or let him be condemned when he is judged.
Wait for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

I have seen a wicked, violent man
Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.
Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;
For the man of peace will have a posterity.
But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;
The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength in time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.

Psalm 37:1-40 NASB

We, as followers of Christ, do not need to fret when we see evil. We do not need to be weary. God will deliver us through these times, and He will wipe out all evil. For He hates evil, and yes evil doers. He hates wickedness and the wicked. And one day soon, all evil and evildoers will meet their end and will face God’s holy wrath and judgment. They will perish and will suffer for all eternity in the lake of fire. And for those who repent and turn to Christ, we will be in the presence of God for all eternity. Our sin nature will be completely gone, and tragedies such as this shooting will be no more. Evil, pain, sickness, and death will be no more. Christ will one day return, and He will make all things new. Until then, continue to persevere and stand firm in the faith. Christians continue to pray for the victims and their families in this situation. May God use this tragedy for His good (Romans 8:28). May all glory be to Christ.