I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know how evil got into a young man’s heart and mind to convince him to go to an elementary school and open fire on children.

I don’t know how parents cope with a loss that must feel like a building fell on them, burying them in grief.

I don’t know how a community rises from the ashes of tragedy to trust humanity again.

All around me were the voices of others who were praying and grieving, reminded again that evil has no heart for the most innocent among us. I read the flurry of opinions as to how this happened, why it happened and what we need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. None of it changed the “I don’t know” in my heart.

Last night, I needed hope for my bruised heart. Hope in the midst of fear and the knowledge that darkness is all around, hanging heavy over us, and that the heart of darkness is evil indeed. So I turned myself to God, who gave me a one word answer to all my questions, and to my cry for hope.

Jesus.

Jesus, the light that God sent into darkness to show us the way out.

Jesus, bleeding and dying, heavy with the sins of man.

Jesus, leaving the tomb victorious over the death that could in no way hold Him.

Jesus, dwelling in me with grace and power to keep my own heart from succumbing to the evil that longs to have it.

Apart from Him, there is no hope. Without Jesus, despair would be all we have. Without Jesus, evil would be victorious and would have us all.

Pages turn, and hope rushes up to meet me.

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Light came and showed the way out of darkness. Light, dwelling in me, going wherever I am willing to go. To show the way out.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

The power of God’s comfort will be greater than the power of our mourning. Satan cannot cause us to mourn so deeply that God cannot meet us with far greater comfort.

And then I flip the pages all the way back. Because sometimes the darkness lays so heavy, that we need to hear the end again.

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison  and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”

Yes, sometimes, when our hearts are bruised and grief-stricken by the breath of evil, when “I don’t know” is all we can say with any honesty, we just need to hear the ending again.

Because there is hope in the end, there is hope today.

John 1:4; Matthew 5:4; Revelation 20:7-10; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:20-21