It was the kind of phone call a pastor dreads. A member had been in an industrial accident, and he was not expected to live. Somehow his clothes got entangled in a machine, and his body had been pulled through it. The wounds were massive and fatal.

When I got to the hospital, it was total chaos. The chaos wasn’t the nurses running around or the doctors shouting orders. They were doing their jobs in a professional and efficient way. The chaos was in the family waiting room. Family members were all at different stages of grief: shock, denial, despair, anger, and a sense of hopelessness. As I sat with them, the question on everybody’s mind was voiced: “Pastor, how could God let this happen and why?”

God’s hidden will

Even when death comes after a longtime illness, there is always a sense of loss and grief for the survivors. Such grief seems even more intense when death comes unexpectedly or tragically.

We know death is a consequence of sin. We also know that God determines the length of our days. But what God has not told us is when, why, and how he chooses that day for each of us. And he doesn’t tell us the way death will come either. That’s part of what we call God’s “hidden will.” Isaiah put it this way, “Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel” (Isaiah 45:15).

Where God makes himself known

But death is not a game, and God isn’t trying to play hide-and-seek with us when we have questions. Although we can’t answer all of the questions, God does not hide from us. He wants us to find him. The only sure place to find him and some answers is in the Bible. That’s where our God has made himself known. From his revealed will in the Bible, we know that he is our Savior who determined that at just the right time the Son of God would be born under the law to redeem those under law. He has also made it clear that those who believe in Jesus will live even after they die. God has not hidden these truths from us. He wants us to know and believe them.