There is no mincing words here: The Lindsay Clancy trial is horrific, sickening, devastating.
To think that a mother could hurt her children like that.
To think about how many times she asked for help and was waived off.
To see it all dragged out, rehashing a family’s gut-wrenching pain.
It makes me want to curl into a ball and weep for hours, imitating Moredecai in the book of Esther, as he put on sackcloth and ashes and mourned in the city streets.
While theories circulate online about the case, one thing I know for sure is it highlights just how broken the world is without God, and it makes me long for a time when He will dry every tear from our eye (Revelation 21:4). Suffering abounds, and it’s all on display through social media. It seems like there is no justice, no righteousness, no way that God can sit on His throne and condone all this. But here are five things Scripture tells us about the heart of God when the world shows us evil.
- God doesn’t abandon you if you are depressed: 1 Kings 19:5–7 – “And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.'”
Quite frankly, as someone who battled significant postpartum depression and has been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, one of the most terrifying aspects of this trial is how Lindsay sought help and was failed on multiple fronts. Many experts say she was experiencing postpartum psychosis, which allegedly led to these brutal deaths. If having children comes with such excitement, why do some of us experience what feels like hell? God didn’t leave us to manage it alone, though. From Elijah to Isaiah to Ezekiel to Jeremiah, the Bible is full of prophets – those who had the Spirit of the Lord on them – who experienced depression. When they wanted to die, God comforted them and met their needs. - If you are hurting, God is with you: Psalm 34:18 – “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
This is one of my favorite Bible verses. Too often, I feel like I see the church gloss over pain by saying that there will be joy in the morning. While that is true, it can feel dismissive of the nights where sorrows take over. But God isn’t ignoring you. He isn’t waiting for the morning to bring you joy. He’s right there in the bed with you when you pull your covers over your head and wish the pain would go away. Yes, I dream of the day when there is no more pain, no more suffering. Today is not that day, unfortunately. Instead, I must remind myself that God is right here with me. - God will exact His vengeance: Isaiah 61:2 – “…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn…”.
When atrocities happen, it’s so easy to question where God is, how He allows it to happen, if He’s really in control. Our timeline is not God’s. He is not ignoring our pain, though. While God gives everyone a chance to repent, He is just. He will not allow our tears to be in vain. His judgement, justice and, yes, wrath, are coming. But when? When it comes to the Clancy trial, this applies two-fold: First, the Lord will consider Lindsay’s heart and mind. Was she acting with malice? What about all the people who failed her along the way? Who will ultimately pay? I’m homesick for Heaven because when cases like this demand someone pay the price, God will be the ultimate judge, but what do we do in the meantime?
- Time will answer a lot of our questions: Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
I want this all to be fixed NOW. I want to know what on earth her husband was up to, how her body was at 82 degrees, why her apple watch was in her drawer…you get it. If anything, this trial has created more questions than answers. Nothing about it is cut-and-dry, and we are all watching, speculating, hypothesizing and wondering how we got to this moment. The motivations and the truth seem to be eluding us, and we want the answers and the justice now. There’s not a time limit on truth, though. Even when the trial is over, so many questions will remain unresolved. This scripture gives us a formula to maintain our sanity during the Clancy trial and beyond. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying we can’t question things. We cannot fathom the atrocity we’re witnessing. Both in this trial and the world at large, our only way to make it through is hope, patience and prayer. - I can’t handle this anymore: 2 Corinthians 5:8 – “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
We were not created to endure this broken world. We were created for communion with God, and apart from Him, life is misery. Each of the previous scriptures I mentioned show us how God walks with us through pain of this world, but the reality is that this is not our home. That’s Christianese for saying that our souls cry out to be with Jesus in a new Heaven and earth that are free from evil. There will come a day where we will no longer endure the bitterness produced by sin. We will no longer be forced to witness horrors in front of our eyes. Instead, there will be dancing, joy and peace. I, for one, can’t wait.
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