Genesis 12:10 NIV
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram
went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
What Should You Think About The Natural Disasters In
Our World?
Recently we have had a slew of wildfires in our
state that have devastated parts of Northern California. Before that massive hurricanes struck the
Caribbean. In Spain also are terrifying
wildfires. Malaria continues to plague
the tropical parts of our world. A large
earthquake struck Mexico just a few months ago and despite all the technology
at our disposal, natural disasters are not preventable. They come with fury and increasing
frequency. What is a Christian response
to the natural order that often reveals the chaos a sin soaked universe
generates? Can a theology of natural
disasters be developed that will help us understand what God is doing in this
world?
There are a large number of natural disasters
described in the Bible. Some are clearly
attributed to God and His judgment upon people.
The flood of Noah’s time was caused by God because of the wickedness of
all the people of the world. The
Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled
with pain. So the Lord said, "I
will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and
animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I
am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
(Genesis 6:6-8 NIV) God’s anger with the
rebellion of Korah who issued a call for Moses to be removed as leader of
Israel resulted in a giant sinkhole that engulfed Korah and his entire
clan. As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split
apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households
and all Korah's men and all their possessions.
They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the
earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. (Numbers
16:31-33 NIV) When the Assyrians
attempted to conquer Jerusalem, the Lord sent a plague that decimated their
huge army. That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred
and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the
next morning — there were all the dead bodies!
So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to
Nineveh and stayed there. (2 Kings 19:35-36 NIV)
This certainly does not exhaust the list of times in
the Bible God is said to bring about a natural disaster because He decided to
punish large and small groups of people.
Yet many times no explanation is given as to why certain natural
disasters occurred. Famines forced both
Abraham and much later his son Isaac and then later still Jacob his grandson to
leave Palestine and move to Egypt to avoid starvation. A great storm pummeled the ship the Apostle
Paul was on and forced everyone on board to swim for their lives when the violence
of the waves broke the boat apart. Both
the prophets Amos and Zechariah mention a great earthquake that hit Israel
during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.
However, no commentary is given as to why it took place. The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of
Tekoa — what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when
Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
(Amos 1: 1 NIV) Volcanoes blew their stack, earthquakes struck, devastating
floods took place and plagues raged through cities during the time the Scriptures
were being written but the Bible is silent about the vast majority of these
natural disasters. Great and terrifying
storms struck several times as Jesus and the disciples tried to make it across
the Sea of Galilee by boat but Jesus never gave a reason why they took place.
Jesus made two striking statements regarding the
horrific sorts of circumstances people face.
The first came in response to the speculation that was taking place
regarding two prominent tragedies that were being widely discussed in
Jerusalem. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the
Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these
Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered
this way? I tell you, no! But unless you
repent, you too will all perish. Or
those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think
they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? (Luke
13:1-4 NIV) Jews, just like people all
over the world, are prone to speculate that some sort of karma or vengeance of
God brings about tragic disasters. Those
who are struck down somehow had it coming.
Christ though poured a bucket of cold water on all such fire
starting. Sinning is universal and the
comparative evaluation of sins is mere guesswork for us. We cannot draw a straight line between
sinning and the tragic events of life.
Christ does say next however that any natural disaster should lead all
those who hear of it to repent themselves of their own sins! I
tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke
13:5 NIV) That is a strange twist on the
longstanding karma theology. A natural
disaster or tragic event does not at all point out the sins of those who
suffered from the tragedy but rather serves as God’s mirror so that we face our
own sins and turn from them immediately.
Jesus’ second statement regarding tragic events came
as a result of a question one of his disciples asked Him. A man born blind was spotted by the group and
Christ was asked, "Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John
9:2 NIV) Jesus gave a most fascinating
answer. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus,
"but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
(John 9:3 NIV) The effect of
this reply is to flip on its ear everything we normally think about tragic
events. The pagan world looks at
disasters and wonders what went wrong.
What was so bad about all those people that they were punished? Christ tells us to never speculate about what
sort of sins led to the crushing blows people face. He invites us instead to look about and watch
for how God will reveal Himself to us when something that seems bad happens. Natural disasters are a mirror that reflects
back to us our sins and also a window that makes it possible for us to see God
doing something marvelous. Imagine the
man born blind barking at God for his blindness when all along God had a plan
for making that blindness a way of letting the world see how good and lovely
Christ is. The Lord insists that when
you see something that you assume is bad, prepare yourself for God in His love
to meet you.
There are three common reactions to God opening up
the window to see Him when a natural disaster strikes. The first is to ask Him why He did it. This of course is almost always an accusation
that God is evil or vindictive. The
second reaction is to question why He did not do a better job of protecting
people from evil. It takes God off the
hook as far as making bad things happen but challenges His authority in this
universe. Who really is in charge? If God can’t prevent evil, then someone or
something else must be making all the calls in life. Karma…
Luck... Satan… The third reaction
is to wonder what God might do to salvage things. In other words, all eyes should be on how the
Lord will make a bad situation somehow turn out all right. Some might call this the Pollyanna approach
but let us consider two Scriptures that shed light on what we know about the
tragic events that take place in life.
In of all places, the book of Lamentations gives us the
first of two principles to consider when it comes to disasters and tragic
events. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good
things come? (Lamentations 3:38 NIV)
In other words, nothing comes to us that God has not decreed. Whether we call it a tragedy or a blessing,
God decides what will transpire. He
oversees everything that happens to us and is the gateway through which every
circumstance must pass. Whether it is
God’s use of the Babylonians to wreck Jerusalem or the decree of the Persian
ruler Cyrus that permitted the Jews to return to Israel, it is the Lord who is
in charge. Listen carefully to God’s
insistence when He spoke to the Israelites just before they entered the
Promised Land. "See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me. I put
to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can
deliver out of my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV) If the ultimate events in time are life and
death, then the Lord God Almighty who calls Himself YHWH controls what happens
at the highest levels of existence.
A second principle often goes overlooked when it
comes to disasters and tragedies and at the risk of seeming to minimize the
pain and sorrow such events bring, it is the overriding principle of all of
life. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV) In any and every situation, God makes
everything turn out well for those who have put their hope in Him. Even those who give their lives for the sake
of Christ will find that God will make things right and good for them. Never
again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat
upon them, nor any scorching heat. For
the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them
to springs of living water. And God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:16-17 NIV)
Not everyone will believe that God is able to
transform the worst calamities in history into blessings for those who suffered
from them. It seems like an impossible
dream that our Lord could take even the most horrific of tragedies and rework
them altogether into joy and happiness!
Yet the Cross and Resurrection is our measure of what God can do for us
if we trust Him. Listen to Mary Magdalene
weeping as unbeknownst to her she comes across Christ having been raised from
the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the
tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two
angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the
other at the foot. They asked her,
"Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't
know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not
realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are
looking for?" Thinking he was the
gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you
have put him, and I will get him." (John 20:10-15 NIV)
That is how every one of us is on this side of a
tragedy or disaster. We see it all from
the perspective of death and suffering but are mostly ignorant or oblivious to
how transforming the life of God is. In
just a moment, Mary Magdalene went from great despair to ecstatic joy solely
because she found that Jesus was alive; alive having been dead. Jesus
said to her, "Mary." She
turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means
Teacher). Jesus said, "Do not hold
on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers
and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.'" (John 20:16-17 NIV) Disaster turned into victory…the
greatest in the history of mankind. It
takes trust to believe that God will make every disaster a triumph of life over
death for those who put their hope in Christ to save them. We must trust something. We can trust that a bad and painful turn is
just that, bad and painful or that it will be transformed by Christ into a good
and wonderful that will make the bad and painful fade from memory. Trust is up to you. Life is up to God.
