Where Is God When Disaster Strikes?
Romans 8:18-28
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
We have all witnessed the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Rose and I had a special interest in those events as we watched them unfold last Monday. We were there a month ago. On July 31 when our family vacation ended, we decided to take a detour home. We drove across southern Alabama and Mississippi so we could see New Orleans for the first time. We stayed in a hotel a couple blocks from the Super Dome. We walked a half-dozen blocks to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter to see the sights and eat in one of New Orleans legendary restaurants. We walked and drove on many of those streets that you’ve seen on television. Seeing all of this happen in a place where you have just been gives it added significance.
But our real interest came from something much more personal. Our oldest son is a local television reporter for WAGA-Fox 5 in Atlanta. This year and last, the station sent him to the Gulf Coast to cover each of the developing hurricanes. Last weekend he went to Pensacola and then west to Mobile toward the path of Katrina.
We spoke with him often via cell phone. At one point, on Sunday he told Rose, “This is a monster.” We have special arrangements to get his station through our satellite dish. Obviously we watched or recorded every Atlanta newscast so we would know how he was doing.
I know we’ve all seen more than our share of devastation and suffering on television this week. But I thought a few quick clips of Tony’s reports might set the stage for what I want to talk about this morning.
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Katrina was a monster. Early Monday morning it came howling ashore with 145-mile an hour winds. A 25-foot wall of water blasted across the Gulf Coast destroying everything in sight for miles. It leveled buildings, threw ships on to dry land, toppled oil-drilling platforms, blew windows out of hospitals, hotels, and high-rises.
At first, it looked like New Orleans had been spared the main force of the storm. Then the levies broke. Mayor Nagin estimated at least eighty-percent of New Orleans was underwater. In some places it was twenty-feet deep. It will months before people will be able to move back into New Orleans—if at all!
When the final tally comes in, it is likely that millions will be homeless and thousands dead. Who knows what potential sickness and disease still lie ahead? Homes and businesses have suffered billions of dollars of damage. The personal devastation defies description.
No one can see such events, even from afar, without asking the big question. Where was God? How can a good God allow such things to happen? We are not the first to ask those questions. We will not be the last. George Barna, the public-opinion pollster, conducted a national survey in which he polled adults: “If you could ask God one question, what would you ask?” The number one response was, “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?”
Atheists don’t have to bother with such questions. Life is a cosmic accident. Disasters just happen. Some religious groups try to explain away suffering as an illusion. For many Eastern religions, suffering is just a part of the great circle of life. Individuals really don’t matter. Others define everything in direct cause and effect terms. Somehow those people in the Gulf Coast got what they deserved, so the argument goes.
Christians however can’t so easily dismiss the questions that disasters pose. We believe in a personal God who is both loving and powerful. God knows what happens and He cares. Disasters like we have seen this week force us to confront a hard question. How can God be good and great at the same time? How do those of us who gather to worship the Living God make sense out of such events? Why do such things happen?
I wouldn’t presume to have all the answers that such events raise. I don’t claim to understand it all myself. But I also don’t think followers of Jesus should let such events pass without turning to scripture for answers. Here’s how the Bible explains what has happened:
Bad things happen because we live in a broken world. The early pages of Genesis teach us that God created a perfect world. But it didn’t stay that way. He didn’t create evil, but he did create freedom. With freedom comes the potential for actions and events contrary to God’s will. Adam and Eve chose to rebel against the Creator. All of Adam’s descents are broken people living in a broken world. Bad things result.
In a broken world of broken people, the real question is not “why does a holy God allow disasters?” but “why are some of us spared?” That was Jesus answer when asked about our issue. His response is worth noting.
Someone in the crowd asked Jesus what he thought of a recent event. The ruthless Roman Governor Pontius Pilate had executed some Galilean rebels and mixed their blood with that of the sacrifices they were preparing to make. Listen to Jesus’ reply.
“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.” Jesus then called attention to a construction accident that recently happened in Jerusalem. “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? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13: 1-5)
We should be thankful we are spared such calamities as have befallen so many Americans this week. We should also be reminded how fragile life is and how vulnerable we all are. The victims of Kartrina no more deserved their suffering than we do. Suffering does not happen in direct proportion to sin. Jesus said, “[the Father] causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). Innocent people suffer. Accidents happen.
That’s what our text from Romans 8 is all about. Sin is not just personal. It is also universal. God made Adam and Eve the crown of his creation. They were caretakers of God’s handiwork. All of creation suffered when they stepped outside of God’s will.
Romans 8:22 is talking about that when it says, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Someday God will completely reverse the destructive direction of our fallen world. He has been working toward that goal since the Garden of Eden. That’s what the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus was all about. We wait along with the rest of creation for a new heaven and new earth where sin, death, destruction and disasters won’t happen.
Suffering happens because of sin. It also sometimes happens because of Satan. The Bible is clear. Satan is real. He is not make believe. He is not a fantasy or a symbolic idea. Despite the claims of many wishful thinkers, Satan is alive and well on Planet Earth. The Bible says he prowls the world like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8-9). We live in a war zone. People get hurt when spiritual forces clash.
Satan is behind the hatred, war, oppression, and corruption in the world. He works behinds the scenes in every level of society. Much of the world’s suffering flows directly from his successes. The Bible tells us that it will get worse before it gets better.
One only need watch the newscasts of the looting, crime, price gouging, and general meanness taking place in the aftermath of the hurricane to know that a lot of suffering is the result of spiritual wickedness.
The Bible has one other very important word to say to our questions. This answer is the most important one. Even when bad things happen, God is still in control. Nothing that happens escapes God watchful eye or tender concern. Jesus taught us that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt 10:30-31).
That’s also the message of Romans 8. Listen to the verse I ended with before and the ones that follow. “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. …Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:28, 35-38).
We may not know why disasters and hard times happen to us or anybody else. But this we do know. God is good—all the time. He is in control even in the worst of times. He still loves. He still cares. He is always at work seeking to bring good to us.
I don’t want to minimize the suffering and heartache of the millions on the Gulf Coast. It is unimaginable. That is something we should pray no human being should have to face. But God is still good. He is doing good things in the wake of Katrina. What possible good can come out of such events?
Hard times strengthen us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 says, “The God of all comfort...comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” The experience of a disaster like this, whether direct or indirect by watching it from a distance, should soften our hearts, strengthen our resolve, and make us more compassionate people.
That’s why the Bible can say, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
Disasters pull the rug out from under proud, self-sufficient people. They remind us all how vulnerable we are. Such events have a way of revealing the really important stuff in life. Suddenly money, ambition, and success don’t matter nearly as much as life, faith, and family. It is a good thing whenever people discover such truth.
Great disasters also create great heroes. Like 9-11, this disaster suddenly turned the spotlight on the everyday heroes like policemen, firemen, EMTs, national guardsmen, and others who serve and protect us every day. We have all become more appreciative. That too is a good thing.
Great disasters can give rise to great love and generosity. Such events as we have witnessed this week offer opportunities to give, love, and care. Many are doing just that. That is a good thing!
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None of us knows what tomorrow holds. But as the hymn says, “we do know who holds tomorrow.” Some of us will face hardships in the future. If we knew what was coming we would think we could never live through it. But we will and we can. We will because we have the promise of a loving and faithful God who works good even out of bad times.
“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.” He has proved that over and over again. The ultimate proof came in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our behalf.
Two other verses from Romans 8 puts this in perspective. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (32-33).
What is God doing in the midst of disaster? He is doing what he always does. He is loving us, caring for us, and preparing us for eternity.
That’s a promise you can live with!
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
