Natural Disasters

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.