Random violence and a "God who never fails"

Earlier this week a couple of married youth pastors were driving with their infant son.  As they passed under a bridge that was undergoing some renovations, a large section of concrete fell on their car, crushing them and instantly killing all three of them.  (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/couple-killed-baby-freak-accident-were-youth-pastors-n341411)

One moment they were having an ordinary moment, with ordinary conversation, listening to the radio, and the next they were dead.  The members of their families and the members of their church now have the difficult task of trying to make sense of this random accident and the horrific results and grief it brings.

But it also causes grief to people who don't know them.  It seems so unjust, so unfair.  It makes God seem really distant.  After all, God could have prevented that from happening, right?  Had the family left just 2 seconds earlier or 2 seconds later they would most likely be alive today.

This morning I went to a prayer breakfast with other community pastors and we heard a speaker encouraging us to pray more, expecting action from the "God who never fails".  A line in the popular worship song "Oceans" says "You've never failed, and You won't start now."

But what exactly does it mean to say "God never fails" when a family of people who love and serve God get crushed in their car?  This incident is making it very difficult to pray.  If God knew that was going to happen, and God did not do anything to prevent it, then it seems like a failure.  If God will not at least do the minimum and cause a 2 second delay for this family in order to save their lives, should I really expect that if I pray God will do something to make my life easier or better (or my friend's lives easier or better)?

Obviously the story of the youth pastors' family is not unique.  History is full of innocent, even faithful and joyful, people victimized by random violence.  Terrorist acts, driving accidents, school shootings, all the way up to acts of war - the brutal truth is God's "modus operandi" is to NOT intervene to save people, whether they are following God or not.  There are occasional exceptions, and we hear the stories of miraculous deliverance, but this is not the normal way of the world.

These events remind me that if my faith in God is predicated upon a belief that God will miraculously intervene for those who serve God, that faith will be destroyed sooner or later.  It is only a matter of time until a senseless tragedy hits close enough to home to drive home the terrible truth that God most often does nothing to prevent these tragedies.  But if my faith in God is predicated upon a belief that God somehow enters into the suffering of this world, then perhaps I can hold onto that faith.  Through the incarnation, God became flesh and endured all the normal hardships of life, as well as extraordinary suffering through torture and execution on a cross.

I want a God who will keep me safe, but for whatever reason that is not the God who is.  And the sooner I realize that, the sooner I will grow up into a more reasonable and mature faith.