[Transcripts may not match broadcasted sermon word for word, and may contain extra material that was cut from the broadcast due to time constraints]

       As many of you know, I am an enthusiast when it comes to NASA history. Like many of you, I really enjoy learning about the history behind America's space program. This morning, I want to talk about one of the shuttle missions that occurred. It is unfortunate, in my opinion, that the United States is not currently launching any vehicles into space. I think of the previous programs from NASA, the space shuttle, in my mind, was the most interesting. And probably this is because I grew up in the shuttle era. For those who have seen it, you know that the space shuttle on a launch pad is really a beautiful site to see. For those of us who've been to the pads, you realize that they aren't as big as they look on TV, nor is a shuttle on the pad as big as might be supposed.

              Now—going all the way back to the 80s—to the morning of Monday, January 27th, 1986 to be specific, the second space-worthy Shuttle to be built—Challenger—sat on its launch pad waiting for flight, which was launch-pad number two, namely 39-B. Hours before the shuttle was to be launched, seven astronauts, including high-school teacher from New Hampshire, Christa McAuliffe, boarded the vehicle. As many of you know, Mrs. McAuliffe was picked as part of the Teacher in Space Project for NASA at the time. The astronauts would wait for several hours to be launched toward the sky. The shuttle mission STS-51L had already been rescheduled twice, and scrubbed twice, and the crew was hopeful to get up into space on this Monday morning.

              However, after closing the hatch on the shuttle, there was a bolt that was giving some of the pad-workers a problem. A handle that was supposed to come off the Shuttle was still attached to it, and the workers couldn't get it off because of a bolt that wouldn't come loose. A drill was driven out to the launch pad, but the battery died before getting the job done. So, the workers sawed off the bolt. But, by this time, winds had kicked up at the landing site and weather was not favorable to land the shuttle in the case of an emergency after launch. The mission was scrubbed for a third time.

              We come then to the next morning, that of Tuesday January 28th, 1986. The crew again boarded the shuttle, in hopes of launching. However, again, there was a delay. This time the delay was due to a problem with one of the Shuttle components. Thus, the astronauts waited some more. The problem was finally resolved, and Space Shuttle Challenger was cleared for launch. This morning, though, wasn't a picturesque morning. The temperatures had dropped into the lower 20s, which for that area in Florida, at Kennedy Space Center, was obviously an unusual event. Nevertheless, the mission was cleared from launch, and the astronauts were undoubtedly excited as they anticipated the flight into space. Only this day, instead of the flight lasting the typical eight minutes, 30 seconds into orbit, which was the norm for an ascent for a space shuttle, this Shuttle's flight would only last half that, at about four minutes. Just over a minute would be successful flight, followed by three minutes of free-falling back to the earth.

              At the moment of launch, all looked good as Challenger made its way into the sky. But on that day, on this morning, there was a problem. As with the launch of any space shuttle, we know there are two rockets and an external fuel tank that go with it, at least in ascent for a while. On this day, on the right rocket, one of the seals that blocked hazard gas from leaking became non-responsive. After about a minute in flight, as many can remember and even viewed live on T.V. at school, there was an explosion. Space Shuttle Challenger was knocked out of its aerodynamic plane, much like a car hitting a cement wall. The Shuttle hit the wall of air that it was flying next to and broke apart into pieces. The crew cabin still completely intact, everything tragically fell downward toward the ocean.

              So, where I want to bring us at this point to in reviewing this piece of NASA history is to the questions of “Where was God when Challenger broke apart?” “Couldn't God have prevented the event, or series of events, which caused Challenger ultimately to be destroyed and the crew members to perish?” “Was this circumstance just a failure on the part of humans in that they just made a bad decision, or series of bad decisions, which led to the disaster?” Today, I want to answer these types of questions, as we consider the providence of God.

              First, let's obtain a definition. This is what God's providence means: God keeps the earth, the sky, and the universe in order, causing it to continue along as he created it. When God guides the affairs of men and women, he does so in such ways that his purposes are accomplished. When God wants to, he can decide to interrupt the creation's or people's general, predisposed processes, and thereby accomplish his own purposes. People, as well as Satan, through a will contrary to God’s, can disrupt God's unfixed purposes and desires, and people may willingly choose not follow his will for their own lives. However, God’s fixed purposes will always be accomplished, regardless of what Satan or humans do.

              Let's consider a key text in understanding what is behind the providence of God. If you would, turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 2, and we're going to look at verses 6 and 7. This is a prayer from Hannah, who was Saul's mother, the future king of Israel. I will be using both the New Century Version and English Standard Version of the Bible today. Please refer to the transcript for references. We'll start with the NCV:

"“The Lord sends death, and he brings to life. He sends people to the grave, and he raises them to life again. The Lord makes some people poor, and others he makes rich. He makes some people humble, and others he makes great. The Lord raises the poor up from the dust, and he lifts the needy from the ashes. He lets the poor sit with princes and receive a throne of honor. “The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord, and the Lord set the world upon them. He protects those who are loyal to him, but evil people will be silenced in darkness. Power is not the key to success."

Many people in our world today do indeed believe that with power comes the ability to control success in life. But that's a trap. No matter how much power one has, or a group of people for that matter, one cannot control everything. And especially in our fallen world. What one does have control over, what is most important, is being in right relationship to God. Regardless of what happens in our world, it is the state of one's mind, to point to psychology, that ultimately matters. Your perspective of the world, your worldview, is what can make you happy or sad. The only worldview that truly fulfills life to its fullest extent is one that is included in a right relationship with God.

              But, as we just read from Hannah's prayer, we can note that God is the One who has created the world, setting its foundations. No matter how much power we may think we have—no matter how much power a group may think they contain and hold—they cannot prevent death. And there is the point we can make that, how a person dies, really, in the end, is a facade. That is, since God has already appointed that all of us are ultimately going to die—since all have sinned and fall short of his glory as Romans 3:23 states—then, in truth, how we die really doesn't matter. God does indeed appoint for some to die at specific times, when it is time for them to die. There is also the world—the foundations that God has setup, when viewed from its now fallen state—that can cause people to die. And then there is the being who opposes God, the great destroyer, who seeks to destroy and go against what God wants. He too can have say in what happens, when groups of people die, and actually cause things to go in a way that God doesn’t want.

              And there is also the issue, or topic that is brought up, to go to another common question, of those who are born different. Do deformities and infirmities within individuals prove that God is not in control? If you'll remember, in Exodus chapter 4, God had appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire but wasn't burning. And God was telling Moses that he was appointed to be God's leader for the Israelites, and he was letting him know what he was to do. Let's look at a section of text from Exodus chapter 4, and verses 10 and 11. We read: “Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (ESV). God was telling Moses that what he originally wanted from him was reasonable, for he could cause Moses to speak in an effective way despite his speech infirmity. And yet, after angering the Lord about this, Moses would end up using Aaron to speak on his behalf. Truly, God can and does work his power within us to accomplish his purposes, even when we don’t think we can do whatever it is.

       And what are some other explanations for those who are born different? Is it because of our own fallen world, the world we are born into, that actually causes people to have problems? Or, what about that god of this world who is so often responsible for evil? We can note Mark 9:25: “And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again” (ESV). And there is the point, the perspective, of looking at these things as disabilities from our own human perspective. While often times they are a great hinderance to people, even to us as individuals, yet some of them can be overcome, and great triumphs are achieved. Some are able to move past what might be originally a detriment and cause it to work for their good. After all, don’t “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” as Romans 8:28 states? So, God works for the good in his people, not for the evil.

              In fact, God demonstrates for us that he doesn’t want us to suffer; he doesn’t want people to have deformity and disease. How do we know this? We know it because God sent his Son to the earth, and he walked the earth healing these very things. It is recorded for us, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:35, 36, ESV).

              Now in wondering about all of this, about God's providence, the obvious question then comes to mind of the question of ‘why’ bad things happen in the world. There are two points I want to make about this topic. Number one, “Is God responsible for everything that happens in the world?” And number two, “Is God evil because he allows bad things to happen?” First, to answer the question of God’s responsibility, let us consider the famous passage, in fact, the famous prayer, from our Lord which we know by heart:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10, ESV).

So, here we learn that God is located in Heaven, and we are to pray that just like God’s will is already done there in Heaven, that it will be accomplished on our earth. The implication, then, is that it is not the default setting of the earth that God’s will is always accomplished.

Jesus would add the following in his prayer to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15, 16, ESV).

The world is fallen, and Jesus asks that God protect us from the evil one. He knows things can happen which God does not want, things that will hurt our lives. And yet, there is always hope no matter what the time or situation may be. And ultimately, our lives, thankfully, do not belong to this earth and are not permanently affixed to it.

              Now is God therefore ‘evil’ because he allows so called 'bad' things to happen? First, remember that this is God's creation. Turn back with me to Jeremiah chapter 7 in the Old Testament. We are going to consider verses 21 through 23:

“‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Offer burnt offerings along with your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves! When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I did not speak to them and give them commands only about burnt offerings and sacrifices. I also gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Do all that I command so that good things will happen to you” (NCV).

So, even though God in the end is all powerful, he requests of the people that they make the right choices—that they do that which is good from the heart, that which he says is good, so that they may experience good. While Satan himself turned away from God, and causes bad to happen, so do we, as people, by not following the good that God has set before us. God has created beings with the ability to choose, and he cannot force anyone, ourselves or even Satan, to do that which is good, that which is pleasing to him.

              Sometimes you will hear the question, “Why do bad things happen to 'good' people?” Or, someone, in referring to a tragic event, will say, “those poor innocent people.” In discussing why bad things happen to 'good' people, when we come to the Bible, we learn that all people are not 'good' in God's eyes. I mentioned just a short while ago Romans 3:23, which again says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (ESV). In God's eyes, taking God's perspective, people are only righteous before him when they have a payment for their sins. They are only righteous in his eyes when they come back into right relationship with him. God told Adam in the day that he ate the fruit off the tree that was forbidden, that if he did it, he would die. Therefore, God says that anyone who sins against him ultimately deserves to die. That is why it is so important to be in right relationship with him, through Jesus Christ.

              In conclusion today, going back to what I talked about earlier with Space Shuttle Challenger, I think many wonder at what happened to the crew after the shuttle broke apart. One has to wonder what was going through the minds of the astronauts as they fell back toward the earth, toward the water, head on. Some say they were unconscious due to the altitude, but that doesn’t appear to have been the case. We know that in our fallen world, that God never guarantees us, as humans, another moment in time, nor can the circumstances of the earth provide us that guarantee.

              Today as we have looked at God’s providence, perhaps you have believed what I've been talking about. Perhaps you really believe that God really is God, and that he is the one with the true power over all things, one we can really trust. Well, no matter who you are, God wants you today to come into a personal relationship with him. He wants you to believe that he really is God, and accept his provided payment for your sins, so that you can come into personal relationship with him. God doesn't want to have to send anyone to hell, but in his righteousness and justice he must do so for people who will not accept Jesus, who refuses to accept the truth.

              You see, Jesus came to the earth as a human and died on a cross to provide the ultimate sacrifice for sins that God's righteousness requires. Since we as humans have all sinned against God, we have to be made right with him to be approved by him. Jesus makes this possible. You can have a personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. God will guarantee that you will escape any of his wrath to come, which includes hell, and that you will always be at peace with him.

              If you would like to believe in Jesus today for the forgiveness of your sins and gain eternal life, then follow my lead in this prayer:

God, I have sinned against you in my life. I have not lived following what you want, but I have done what I have wanted. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that he rose from the dead so that I might have a new life with you. I give my life over to you so you will give me your peace and accept me. Please give me a new life, and make me pleasing to you, like Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

       Let's pray:

       Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity today to learn about your providence. Father, we do not have to fear death but realize that no matter when our death dates are that in the end we will be with you. Help us, Father, as Christians to be pleasing to you, and if our time comes we will not be ashamed before you because we were not ready. I pray for those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior today, that you will build that person up in the newfound faith that they have in you and that you will teach them your truth, so that they might be at peace in their own minds, and more pleasing to you. Father, please bless us as we go about the rest of this day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

-Daniel Litton

Scriptures quoted (NCV) are from The Youth Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75039. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


Daniel with Space Shuttle Atlantis on November 5, 2013 at Kennedy Space Center, FL.