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Where Was God In The Tsunami?

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Ric Strangway

Where was God in the tsunami? I have to admit that’s not an easy question to answer. But it’s an important one to talk about, because my guess is that’s the question your friends and neighbours want to ask you.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, neither do I admit to fully understanding the mystery of God’s will, His sovereignty and the forces of evil. Sometimes my mind falls into a bit of confusion trying to make sense of it all. But somehow, this week, I feel compelled to at least put out a few biblical thoughts as to how we should be thinking about such events.

First, God sheds tears over the loss of life, the destruction of peace and any sense of injustice and evil that we experience. The Scriptures teach us that God grieves over our suffering and losses. Jesus cried over Lazarus’ death, and the apostle Paul states that Christ shares in our sufferings. The early church held onto this belief and we must not lose it either. God is a God of mercy, compassion and love.

Second, death, suffering, injustice and evil in all its manifestations is not the way God intends things to be. Two things happened after the events in the Garden of Eden. The first being that evil settled in the human heart. Humans broke away from God’s intention and became deeply flawed. The second thing is evil became embedded in creation itself. As Paul would say later in the book of Romans, creations groans for its release.

How this brokenness in the created order works its way out into earthquakes and tsunamis and human destruction is hard to say. Some of it is quite natural. And some times these very natural things cause much destruction, even human destruction as in this case. This is where its hard to understand. But again, that’s where it’s important to remind ourselves that suffering and destruction are not what God intended. They are not the peace, the “shalom,” that God created the world to be. And they are not part of the new heaven and new earth that the kingdom of God promises.

Third, God is still a God of unwavering love and He still is a God of sovereignty. Somehow the curse on creation, and the freedom of the human heart to act out evil still doesn’t crowd out God’s sovereignty.

Scripture doesn’t seem to put it in a neat package like we want, and even if it did I wonder if I would be able to grasp it, but it does declare God’s sovereignty over all creation. And so like the psalmist we can pray,

_“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge,
my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust in Him“_ Psalm 91:2

Fourth, God’s people should weep over injustice, evil and human suffering. It is right and good for us to think hard about the images of loss and destruction that we see in the world. And it is right for us to lament over what has happened. Just as a death in our own family prompts deep emotion, so we should stop and declare that “this isn’t right,” “this is not what God intended.”

Maybe for us its even a comment at the supper table with our family, a brief reading from Psalm 46:1–3 or Isaiah 65:17–19, and a prayer for God’s kingdom to come.

Fifth, God’s people are part of God’s answer to evil. While we wait for Jesus Christ to return and usher in the fullness of the kingdom, we (the church) remain as God’s preview of what is to come.

We are God’s signpost to a world in turmoil. Our prayers and actions and desire to put things right are a witness to the kingdom community that we are. So while we may not be able to do more than pray and offer finances to the nation of Japan, we can be motivated in times like this to act intentionally in our world.

As kingdom people we are active witnesses to the world that there is something greater than evil.

And it is God’s love!

So may we be careful to not fall into the mundane and the common like all this doesn’t matter. Pray that we would reject apathy and find ourselves stirred to act in love towards others.

The kingdom of God has arrived. Here and now.

And YOU are it!

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