I recently read in the news a story of a four-year-old boy who accidentally shot his six-year-old playmate in the head. Though both sets of parents claimed to be watching over their children at the time, the four-year-old managed to wander into the house, find a loaded .22 caliber gun, come out and nail his friend in the head. Now a .22 has enough kickback to jolt my adult arms. In the hands of a six-year-old, such a weapon would be even more unsteady. Where was God in this moment? Did He not accompany the boy as he wandered into the house, help him locate the gun, and prevent watchful eyes from looking over until the deed was done? Was it not God who ensured ahead of time that the gun would be left loaded in that drawer instead of stored in a harmless state? Was it not God making sure that the drawer was unlocked and within reach of the boy? Was it not God guiding the bullet right into the skull of the six-year-old with the same precision as He guided David’s stone into the skull of Goliath? Where do we get off denying the power of God just because we don’t like how He uses it? How dare we accuse our loving God of being so slack in His reign by pretending He didn’t know anything bad was happening until His holy ears heard a gun fire? If you want to see Satan in that house instead of God, and if you want to see Satan aiming that bullet, you still cannot escape the presence of that leash. Satan can do NOTHING without God’s direction. It is GOD, not Satan who appoints the numbers of our days on earth before we are even born (Ps. 139). According to God’s instruction to us, that six-year-old boy’s life was not cut short, he was only ever intended to live down here for six years. Why do we buck this obvious truth with such anger? Why do we find it more comforting to blame the whole affair on Satan, claiming that for at least brief moments in time, Satan overrules God? Why do we insist on our King being so limited that one of His own creatures can sneak behind His back and get away with nasty things?