Evidently Officer Ramos was a believer in Christ. World Magazine has a great story (click here) about his funeral and the church where he and his family worshiped for the last
14 years. Ramos, who just turned 40, was
due to graduate from the NYPD’s chaplain training program the day after he was
killed. He left behind a wife and two sons.
The senseless murder of a young, godly man reminds us that evil is real
and that our world is in its grip. It lives within each of us sinners, and
flares like a malarial fever in some, erupting in rage and violence.
We might be tempted to conclude that this dark world is irredeemably out
of control, and that the enemy of our soul won yet another ugly victory in
cutting short the life of a man like Rafael Ramos.
Yet, if the Bible is true, God’s plans and purposes are not thwarted or
diverted by the evil men do. Ephesians 1:11 says God works
all things according to the counsel of his will. Or as the Psalmist
reminds us, Our God
is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases (Psalm 115:3). Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on
earth, in the seas and all deeps (Psalm 135:6). God rules and over-rules in all things – even in the
affairs of evil men. The Lord has made everything for its
purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble (Proverbs 16:4).
Officer Ramos went to be with Jesus, but I do not believe Christ said, “What
are you doing here? You’re ‘way too early. I had such plans for you!” I think
it is far more likely he heard, “Welcome home, Rafael. You’re right on time. Enter
into the joy of your master.”
So is any life cut short? From our point of view, yes. Of course. Heart-wrenching
scenarios abound: great leaders who were assassinated. Babies who never took
their first breath. Children claimed by war or disease. Young people whose
potential never materialized because they were derailed by drugs.
But from God’s point of view, I don’t think any chosen child of God has
his life cut short. His days, whether
many or few, are in God’s hands and have been ordained for them before the
foundation of the world. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of
them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm
139:16). My times are in your hand (Psalm 31:15).
We can’t be glib about this. A loved one’s death wounds and forever changes
those who are left behind. Life is never the same after death. But our good,
wise, and holy God can be trusted to redeem even the worst evils and to heal even the most terrible pain through the death of a young Man
whose life seemed to be cut short.
