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This exhortation came in toay's mail.  I thought I'd share it here:

Manna ~ The Motive of Murder
Martha Kilpatrick
Apr 19, 2007

The great question about the Virginia Tech murders has been 'why?' What could be the motive for such an atrocity? The videos Cho sent to NBC reveal the motive and the Bible makes it entirely clear.

James 4: 1,2
What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts, quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodil y members?

You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled, [so] you become murderers.

Cho was filled with the bitterness of envy and as it turned to anger and hatred - fed and fueled from Satan - he became a murderer of those he envied.  There is the motive! The same reason Christ was killed  -  envy.

Can it be merely jealousy? The Bible ever explains the worse of humanity in the simplest core. Humanity is not so complex as we flatter ourselves to believe. 

In Classic Cain manner, Cho blamed those he killed for their own murder!

I can't but believe that this explanation is precisely correct.  Of course people will try to soften it by blaming various social ills, but, basically, at root, it's simply sin.  And may we not - any of us - point at this man.  Let us instead look within our hearts and pray to be more and more purified through Jesus Christ.  As the old saying goes, "There, except for the grace of God, go I."

How, then, do we as believers cope with tragedies such as this?  Here are a couple of verses that work for me.

John 16:33  These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

Romans 12:21  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
       an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
       and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
       and the mountains quake with their surging.
       Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
       God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
       he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.
       Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
       the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
       he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
       he burns the shields with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.
       Selah


I just love verse 10 -- Be still, and KNOW that I am God!


Father, forgive him.

I deserve to be allowed by God to fall even into such sins as these.  But, thanks be for the wonderful grace of God, He has caused me to be born anew into a new life, and so He has witheld me from such sins and will lead me into glory!

The verses you cite are excellent and appropriate for the circumstances.