Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD -- how much more the hearts of men! (Proverbs 15:11).

Our world is a broken place, plagued by wars, famines, earthquakes, floods, diseases, abuse, hatred, wastefulness, and selfishness.  And this isn't even close to an exhaustive list of the manifestations of this profound brokenness.  Innocent people suffer and die all the time.  Death and destruction are all around us.  Indeed, our world is a very, very broken place, and it's been so for a very long time.  In ancient Hebrew culture, this brokenness was most clearly represented in the terms Sheol and Abaddon -- Death and Destruction.  But more than abstract concepts, like our current-day cultural sense of "Death" and "Destruction," Sheol and Abaddon seemed to have a greater sense of personality and presence, almost like mythological figures.  Especially in the ancient Hebrew wisdom literature -- the Psalms, the Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes -- Sheol and Abaddon feature as hideous, insatiable monsters.  Perhaps it's a bit fanciful, to think of Death and Destruction as these yellow-toothed, stinking, hulking beasts, but actually I'd say it's a pretty appropriate personification of the world's brokenness, if you ask me.

But where does God fit in amongst stinky, shaggy, old Sheol and Abaddon?  And where do we fit in?

These are always some of the most challenging theological questions, aren't they?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  How could a good and loving God allow horrible things to happen to decent people?  Are Death and Destruction outside the control of God?  Are we just pawns in a vicious life-and-death competition:  God versus Sheol and Abaddon?  It seems beyond the scope of a devotional reading of a single Proverb to address these questions with anything approaching adequate attention... But I think there's an interesting theological assertion embedded within Proverbs 15:11, subtly sketching out the tenuous connections between these various factors:  Sheol, Abaddon, the LORD, and me.  It seems clear, from this verse, that Sheol and Abaddon -- Death and Destruction -- exist outside of God, independent and eternally attempting to chart their own course through the universe.  Still, they are not mysterious or impervious to the LORD.  They are separate from God, and yet He can somehow see right through them.  They lie open before Him.  And even though we can't always see the preferences and patterns of these Monsters at play, God can.  He somehow maintains control, even while not (yet) completely overcoming them.  But more than these cosmic forces interacting with one another, while we get thrown about from side to side, the LORD's command of the situation also includes an observation of MY heart.  Like Sheol and Abaddon, I exist outside of God, with my own free will, independent and often attempting to chart my own course through life.  Still, my heart is not mysterious or impervious to the LORD.  If God knows how to see into Death and Destruction -- where none of us can ever make sense of it all -- how much more can he see the hearts of men!  The fact of the matter is that in our natural state, we're also part of the problem, part of the world's brokenness.  We are not solely responsible, nor are we completely out of the picture.  The more I can stop trying to resist reality and open my heart up to God, the more I'll be on the good side of the equation, pulling away from brokenness and towards wholeness.

The world's brokenness is still a profound and difficult mystery for me to grasp.  However, I feel somehow comforted to remember that it's well within the grasp of God.