Due to all the media coverage of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, if you haven't been asked, you can be pretty confident that your students/participants are wondering about the role of God in Natural Disasters.
I did a quick survey in my own mind and was able to identify rain storms as a significant event in many Biblical stories. Noah's flood was just the beginning. Jonah was thrown overboard because a storm threatened the lives of the crew. Jesus' disciples feared for their lives because of a storm at sea. Paul was shipwrecked in Acts 27 due to a storm. It is clear that storms can be used to accomplish the will of God.
Hear me clearly! I am NOT saying storms are always God judgment on evil and I am NOT saying that all the outcomes of a disaster are "good"! I AM saying that God can use storms and "natural" disasters to accomplish things that cannot be accomplished by other means. For example, the Tsunami in Indonesia a few years ago and more recently in Myanmar opened the doors for Christians to demonstrate godly compassion in ways that their governments and other religions were unable to accomplish.
For more thoughts about the reasons for disasters and ways you can use these discussions in your class/small group to build faith check out the link below.
We would be interested to hear your comments. How have you been able to see God at work in events that first appeared to be a disaster?
Is God to Blame for Natural Disasters? | Building Small Groups
I think both Pastor Dave's thoughts and the expanded article found at the bottom link are great.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago we went through what appeared to be a huge disaster when my husband's job was eliminated. He had the option of moving our family to New York, where the parent company was located, but we chose not to relocate.
He was looking for a job when the job market was at an all time low and it took him a while to find one. We went through thousands of dollars in our savings due to needing to carry on insurance until coverage was provided at the company he finally got employed with.
He is out of his chosen field of work now and making far less money than he used to.
This ongoing struggle or "disaster" has caused us to have to trust God and rely upon Him in deeper ways than we did when he had a job that covered all our needs. It also caused us to realize things in our marriage relationship that needed change - increased grace needing to be given, a deeper reliance upon God rather than looking to each other etc...all things we would have never seen had it not been for the "disaster".
When I read these articles I couldn't help but think about Elijah and when he was on the mountain and heard from God. (Found in 1 Kings 19:1-18)
He was faced with witnessing several natural disasters when on that mountain with his bad attitude.....a rock shattering wind, an earthquake and a fire. The bible says that God was not in any of these.....but it was after they passed that Elijah was able to hear the still small voice of God. I wonder if he was scared to death up on that mountain witnessing all of those natural disasters and calling out to God in sheer terror.
As much as we dislike going through them, times of disaster have a natural way of quickly humbling us and reminding us how vunerable we really are...how desperately we need God.
In a nation that promotes an "I can do anything and do it myself" mentality....we need that.
I'm sorry, I'm a little lost on your opinion.
ReplyDeleteYou think that many many many people dying and an insane amount of communities being destroyed was okay...because God planned on it so that religious values could be instilled?
Maybe I misread what you are saying, or I am taking it wrong, but that is what it sounds like you are saying.
I think that it is great that people are coming together to help other people in a the middle of a disaster, but goodness! Saying that so much destruction is okay because these people are going to get to find help in Christian beliefs, to me, is ridiculous.