Recent weeks were really tough on all of us. There have been so many tragedies with so many people and their families and friends involved, it is hard to bear and it hit home here in Bermuda. People lost their life or health in accidents and crime.

Even for a person of faith it is hard to come to grips with the fact that life is so vulnerable and we learn that we cannot take it for granted, nor the close relationships we have with others.

In general, we live in one of the safest times in history. Most western countries had no war on their soil since 1945. For many medical ailments that in earlier times would have meant major pain or death, doctors found cures or at least symptom relief.

Our cars and bikes are much safer than even a few decades ago. Aeroplanes are so safe nowadays that experts consider the ride to the airport (in those already safer cars) as much more dangerous than the flight around half of the Earth.

Still, accidents happen, planes might crash, or fires occur because of technical malfunction or human error, and sometimes people make bad or evil decisions.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who had a loss in the last weeks. May God find ways and people around you to comfort you in your grief and help you in these difficult times! And while we might feel like looking for answers, I believe strongly that none of us can answer the painful question “Why” with final satisfaction.

While this question is very understandable, it hardly is useful. What kind of answer could anybody give that would comfort us?

There might be something that causes machinery or electronics to suddenly break down. A leak in an oil line, a burnt fuse, a faulty switch, all those can be causes of malfunction. Distraction may be the cause of accidents, and hurt feelings or anger may cause bad reactions that lead into violence. It may not be reasonable, not a reason, but a cause.

Already in Old Testament times people asked this question again and again when tragedy hit. We find it in the Psalms and we find it particular in the Book of Job, who lost his ten children, his house, his cattle, a caravan of camels, all in one day, and finally his health and social relations. Can you imagine the pain?

God allowed the bad things to happen to test Job’s faith, the book says, as Satan had argued that it is easy to believe in God when you are blessed. So it was not a punishment by God that Job lost almost everything, and Job for the longest time held true that he did nothing to deserve this, but still defended God even against his wife and friends who tried to persuade him otherwise.

Towards the end of this story, God answers Job, who is close to losing faith and hope. Basically God tells him that no human has any rights or any legitimate claims against God. That sounds harsh. Isn’t God supposed to be loving? He actually is not supposed to be loving, but He is loving because He chooses to be.

God created the Earth and the universe without our help, he created us and our environment around us to make life possible and every good thing we have, we received from Him. That is God’s love and faithfulness towards us.

At the same time, we humans created a gap between us and God with some of our choices, our behaviour, our deeds, our desires and motivations (that is what the Bible calls “sin”).

We break the laws that are in place, God’s laws, the laws of nature, and our human laws. If it was for justice and fairness, God could send another flood like in the days of Noah and get rid of all of us at once. Nobody can say he or she “deserves” to live, and for sure, not to live at a certain standard. Life itself is an expression of God’s love.

We know for certain that we will die one day. Death is not punishment. It is God’s grace that we are alive right now. It is His grace that we are actually saved again and again from accidents and tragedy, when we did not get hurt, when we were lucky, when we got back on our feet, and when we had good times and great success.

We cannot brag about that, and we cannot blame those who are less fortunate right now. So nobody should point a finger at others claiming they may have “deserved” what happened to them, or that it might have been God’s punishment.

Instead, we can in Christian love pray for those who are suffering, seek way to help them with things or money, listen to their pain and show them that they are not alone, that we are willing to be on their side, even if we don’t have any satisfying answers. It takes courage to be quiet at times and endure with others who are grieving. A sigh or a hug is worth more than words at times.

During the time of Jesus, there had been a time of several tragedies close together as well. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who later had Christ crucified, had given order to kill a group of Galileans in the Temple while sacrificing to God. We don’t know for sure why he did it. Maybe he wanted to set an example after a conflict with the high priests or because he worried about a riot against Rome.

Around the same time 18 people were killed in Siloam when a tower collapsed, an accident. Christ asked those who told him the bad news (Luke 13:2-5 NIV): “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those 18 who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

So instead of pointing with the finger, Christ reminded us that, like Paul puts it in Romans 3:23, “[We] all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We actually could not make it to God’s Kingdom except through God’s mercy and grace alone. To repent then means to turn around from our self-chosen ways and put our faith back into God and listen to His Word.

Every cause has an effect, meaning, that the laws of nature, the laws of God, national laws like the rules of the road, or international laws, are there for good reason and when they are neglected or wilfully broken, it might cause bad things to happen.

That is particularly sad when others, who had nothing to do with it, had to suffer because of it. We easily forget that our mistakes might cause others pain and even death.

Fortunately, we often get away with it. Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes the effect is burdened onto people who were not involved, who got hit by tragedy though they did nothing wrong then. They just were there when it happened, whether in the Ukraine, in the Middle East, on our roads, or in a social gathering that went wrong.

As Christians, we can stand together with those who are hurting and try to be there for them in one way or another. We can become more mindful of what we are doing, so often without thinking, and try to change where we are in the wrong.

• Karsten Decker is an ordained Lutheran pastor and novelist from Germany who has lived and worked in Bermuda since 2001. At the moment he helps the Centenary Methodist Church at Collectors Hill as pulpit supply.