Natural Disasters

Weekly Update – October 10th, 2024

No one ever expects their town to be the one hit when the storm warnings appear.  The storm’s path may be predicted, the weather sirens may go off, the skies may be black and a tornado may even appear, but hope is always held out until the last minute that disaster may somehow be averted.  This was not the case for many in Florida this week. As residents packed up and left under mandatory evacuations, they have done so expecting the worst from Hurricane Milton.  This hurricane was expected to be one of the worst storms to ever hit southwest Florida and many places experienced total devastation.  To make matters worse, many who are experiencing the wrath of Milton were dealt a significant blow less than two weeks ago with Hurricane Helene. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Every year we see tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and fires. But in the midst of these disasters, the natural question that comes to the minds of many is, “Where is God?”  Is he somehow hands off when it comes to devastation.  Or is destruction his judgment on a particular city or region?  But instead of questioning the intentions of God, we ought to see natural disaster as a sign of the mercy of God.  Here are two reasons why:

First, in the past, some such as Pat Robertson and Hal Lindsey were quick to claim that such disasters are evidence of the wrath of God against certain people.  Now it is going to be hard to prove God’s intentions when allowing disaster, so we probably shouldn’t try.  What we do know is that when we see disaster, we ought not to be quick to build up our own pride in thinking that our righteousness has somehow caused God to protect us and judge others, but instead we ought to examine our own hearts and see if we are rightly following the Lord.  In Luke 13, a group approached Jesus implying certain disasters that had occurred in the past were evidence of God’s judgment against certain people.  We notice that Jesus does not respond by affirming the judgment of those afflicted in disaster, but instead he says in verse 3, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  Then in verse 6, Jesus gives a parable about a fig tree that is not producing fruit and claims that he will give the tree one more year to shows signs of life.  This passage teaches us that instead of wondering what a hurricane or a natural disaster means about God’s view of a city, state or our nation, we ought to see our being spared from disaster as the mercy of God in giving us, if needed, another opportunity for repentance.

Second, when disaster came upon Job’s household, his response to God was, “Have I sinned?  What have I done to you, O watcher of men?” (Job 7:20).  Job, thought along the lines of David from Psalm 10 wondering why the wicked prosper while he and his family lie in ruin. Through this trial, God teaches Job a lesson in his sovereignty causing Job to eventually respond by saying, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?  Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:2-3). Job comes to the point where he recognizes that God’s purposes are too vast for us to always comprehend and that his ways are too wonderful to always be understood.  It reminds us of the hymn by William Cowper titled, “God Works in Mysterious Ways.”   His ways are far above our ways and his thoughts are far above ours (Is. 55:9).  Therefore, just as disaster wakes us up towards repentance so too it should remind us of God’s sovereignty over every event in the universe and lead us towards humility in our own thoughts and trust in his ways.  This too is the mercy of God.

So as we try to comprehend the utter disaster and destruction from Hurricane Milton as well as from other natural disasters, let us pray for those affected, but let us also see the mercy of God through his plans and purposes.  We ought to be filled with humility as we see our inability to control the events of this world, but we should also be moved towards repentance as we consider a brief snippet of the judgement to come. And through all of this we ought to keep our minds with the apostle John, as we view the world around us, saying “Come Lord Jesus.”

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson