The recent catastrophe in the Philippines raises the perennial question we face when disasters happen: where is God in all this? How are we to understand this from a Christian perspective? How can a God of love allow such suffering?
First of all, we are to pray for the practical relief of those in the midst of the aftermath, and give help as we can. From our distance we have the luxury of contemplating questions of meaning, whereas there are very urgent logistical and survival assistance that is vital for the communities involved. It is a chance for the international community to pull together in response.
Is God responsible for such ‘natural’ disasters? To put the question differently, we could say, if God is sovereign over creation and over the universe, if God is ultimately ‘in control’ of all things, how could He not be responsible?
That is a vital and important question. The way I think about it is this: yes, God is sovereign over all things, but God has in a sense released control. In creation He made humankind in His image and gave them stewardship of the earth (Gen 1 & 2). The destiny of the created world order, and the destiny of animal life, is tied up with the destiny of humanity. When the humans exercised their freedom (God’s relinquished control) by turning their backs on God (Gen 3), this not only impacted their lives and relationships, but the natural world order as well.
The New Testament reflects on this in Romans 8 where Paul says “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). I see ‘natural’ disasters as part of the groaning of creation, a reflection of the fall, of sin which has impacted everything, creation itself. Hence the Bible also includes many prophetic visions of a new heavens and new earth when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness and death and destruction will be no more.
Furthermore, rather than seeing God as directly responsible, we can see God as directly involved in the suffering. The implications of the incarnation and crucifiction are such that God suffers with us, grieves with us, and is at work to restore us. Jesus heals and restores throughout His ministry, and He is now at work in the Philippines to heal and restore, hence for this we pray and work as we can. The evil one works to destroy, our God works to heal and restore – through us, His people.
Much more could be teased out from this, and it is interesting to reflect how human-induced climate change may be impacting upon this. Yet we can have confidence in the love of God for His creation, and we can pray and work to reflect His heart for the world in all we do.
Phil, you have summed up the issues well. I think the point about ‘stewardship’ is right on the button. As an adversarial society, we are always ready to point the finger to somebody, everybody – anyone other than ourselves in an effort to shift the ‘blame’ or responsibility away from ourselves….just this week I have even heard a so-called atheist blame God over all and every ‘natural’ disasters! This I found to be quite comical. I did ask, “Since you are ostensibly financially comfortable, what do you plan to give to help out those affected by this catastrophe?” ….silence and red face… I consider that whilst we can’t bring back the dead – that’s now in God’s hands. However as a society and often as individuals we can do an awful lot to help the living – the Lord’s last command and instruction to his disciples and therefore us is to love one another – and that carries with it all that we understand about caring and helping wherever we can. Even if that is to pray and ask Him to help. Turning bad events into good is a smack in the kisser to Satan.