Submitted by Pastor Ross Hegleton Faith &Reflection
Where was God when the destructive power of hurricane Harvey was unleashed upon Texas with hurricane Irma in hot pursuit and headed for Florida? Have you ever asked that sort of question? Why does the loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God of the Bible allow these horrific natural disasters?
It is impossible to comprehend natural disasters, or any other difficulty for that matter, without accepting the fact that we live in a world that has been affected by sin; disobedience to and departure from the living God. The gargantuan stone of moral failure has been dropped into the sea of human existence and history and the resultant concentric circles seem to intensify rather than diminish. To reject the biblical teaching of the entrance of sin into this world and its consequences leaves little in the way of explanation. Perhaps no God or an evil God…
There is of course the Deist view of a hands-off God. Deists teach that God created everything, wound up Earth’s clock and has been vacationing in some celestial resort ever since, nonchalantly letting the clock wind down unsupervised.
God does not have a hands-off policy, though it may seem that way at times. I expect that the puzzling part comes when we contemplate, that while God does not cause natural disasters, He could prevent them. What possible good could come from dreadful happenings? Someone suggested just today that they feel the greatest benefit of tragedies is that people are not considering color, creed or socio-economic standing. They are simply standing shoulder to shoulder to deal with the disaster they find themselves in. Will we be able to faithfully endure and continue to believe in and trust God in the middle of devastation, destruction and death?
Possibly one lesson that comes from devastation is the reminder that we know little to nothing of what the future holds. We simply cannot hide from the fact that life is unpredictable and outside of our management. We can’t know what our next day may hold, but we can know Who holds that day.