I’ve felt a heaviness over the past week. From the senseless murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte to the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, I’ve been burdened by the evil that seems to run rampant in this world. Perhaps what weighs on me the most is the brutal nature of these killings and how graphic footage now instantly spreads across the high-resolution screens in our pockets. “How long, O Lord?”

Kirk’s death highlights the troubling volatility of our digital culture. Reports suggest the accused killer was radicalized in online spaces, following an all-too-predictable pattern. The transgender ideology that may have motivated this attack represents a broader reality-denying worldview that calls biblical truth “hate” and treats words as violence. Yet even as I process these dark realities, I find solace in God’s sovereignty and in prayerfully reflecting on how the Lord might be at work through such tragic circumstances.

My colleague, Brett McCracken, suggests this assassination might “accelerate [three] already-in-motion trends” in American culture: (1) a growing recognition of digital life’s dangers, (2) Gen Z’s surprising hunger for reality-respecting truth, and (3) the exposure of transgender ideology’s destructive deception. May the Lord give us grace in engaging our culture with the truth of the gospel in an anchor-less age. Rather than headlines merely fueling outrage or despair, let’s find renewed joy in telling others of the hope found only in Jesus. As McCracken writes,

Amid the shock and horror of the current news cycle, let’s think carefully about what happened and why. Let’s speak up boldly about truth and reality, in a world clearly confused about both. And let’s pray that amid the tumult, God would convict people of their sin and draw them to himself—and that churches would be ready to meet sin-weary souls of every sort, and point them to gospel hope.

And then let’s keep praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).