Where Is God When It Hurts?

This question haunts us whether our tragedy is personal or we are sharing in a national trauma like Sandy Hook or Columbine. Philip Yancey comes as close to an understandable answer as anything I have read:

"In New Orleans, crews from Texas churches still spend weekends rebuilding houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, long after government aid dried up. If the church does its job, people don't torment themselves with the question, Where is God when it hurts? They know the answer. God becomes visible through God's people, who live out the mission that Paul expressed so well: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God" (2 Cor. 1:3-4)."

www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/april/national-tragedy-and-empty-tomb.html?order=&start=1

In short, He was with the afflicted the whole time - He was just waiting for His Body, the Church, to show up.