Where is God When Disaster Strikes?

A visiting pastor spoke in our evening service last night and gave some timely insight from Luke 13:1-3 to the question "where is God when disaster strikes?" In the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that hit Japan, many people are stopping to consider what has happened and why.


When Jesus was asked to help his disciples make sense out of a tragedy that killed many people, his response called them to do three things:
1. Consider their own mortality.
2. Consider their own accountability.
3. Consider their own eternity.


We live in an age where people are tempted to think that death is rare, but it is common and life is desperately temporary. We will all die. The Scriptures teach that after that all will face judgement. The disciples wrongly thought that those who suffered a tragic death did so because they were more sinful than those who escaped. That is wrong. Thankfully, though all die, not all will perish (spend eternity separated from God and suffering punishment for their sins). Christ came to die and secure for sinners a righteousness that will be accepted before God as perfect and sufficient for any who trust in Him. There is no hope for salvation in any other!


All this should cause us to live a life of continual repentance and gratefulness for the Gospel! We must never wander away from the daily importance of what Christ has done for us, but stay camped at the foot of the cross. That is where our hope lies. We must each day awake and preach the Gospel to ourselves, lest we become self-righteous and forget the gracious love of the Savior who gave his life for undeserving sinners like all of us. Nothing will kill your love for Christ quicker than your own self-righteousness. What do we have that He hasn't given us? O, how we need Him!


When we consider tragedies and disasters in the world side by side with our belief in the sovereign control of God, it should cause us to renew our rest in Him. Put away fear and anxiety! Your sovereign God is merciful and gracious. He is awake and on duty.


Psalm 46 is a wonderfully comforting passage to remind us that God is fully in control and reigning over our world. We can put our hearts at ease in Him.


"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and
thought the mountains should slip into the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam; thought its mountains quake at
its swelling pride...Come, behold the works of the Lord,
who has wrought desolations in the earth...
Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth."