In a helpful little article on a website called "gotquestions.org" there is a little piece on the question, "Why does God allow natural disasters, i.e. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis?" The question nags at believers and often surfaces as ammunition for skeptics. "If your God is so good, why do bad things happen?"
The article has some good things in it. They point out, for instance, that the phrase, "acts of God", always references bad things, while God rarely gets credited with the good things. The years of good weather, good crops, missed disasters, that sort of thing, are all ignored. God gets the blame for the bad things, but He doesn't get the credit for the good. Why is that? (Rhetorical question.) The article suggests positives from bad events. They force us to think beyond the everyday and on to eternity. They shake our confidence in ourselves. They make us reevaluate our priorities. That is, God can bring good out of tragedy.
Ultimately, of course, it is vain (as in "useless") and vain (as in "conceited") to try to answer why God allows natural disasters. God does what God will do without deigning to fill us in on His plan. He doesn't check with us before He plans an earthquake or a hurricane. Something we'll never hear from God is "Here's what I have in mind. Is that okay with you?" It is extremely rare that we are told why God does what He does in specific instances. What we are required to do, then, is to trust that God is good even when we can't figure out how He is good. And that is not something you'll get out of a skeptic.
There is a serious problem, however, with the article. "Does God sometimes influence the weather? Yes, as we see in Deuteronomy 11:17 and James 5:17. Numbers 16:30-34 shows us that God sometimes causes natural disasters as a judgment against sin." This is theistic deism. As the article rightly points out, "The Bible proclaims that Jesus Christ holds all of nature together (Colossians 1:16-17)." So while we tend to think of the universe as a lifeless entity organized by laws of nature, the Bible speaks of a universe that is held together by God. It's not that sometimes God intervenes; it's that God at all times is in charge of all that happens. No hurricane blows without God originating and guiding it. No earthquake trembles without God's specific command.
You see, we're doing our best here as believers to try to absolve God of any wrongdoing. We see and rightly grieve over the loss of life in Haiti, for instance. I wouldn't even try to suggest it was an act of judgment by God. The Bible gives God too many options to limit it to an act of judgment. But we start with two false premises. First, God doesn't do things that we consider "bad". Second, we deserve "good". God, on the other hand, isn't fooled. It is He who claims, "I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things" (Isa 45:5-7).
Since we know that God works all things after the counsel of His will, and since God Himself claims to "create calamity", why would be wish to minimize it? Instead, we should answer like Paul did. "Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" Without assuming judgment, we should use these things to question ourselves as Jesus did when asked about other disasters. "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). And we should never forget that we were vessels of wrath prepared for destruction on whom God has shown mercy. We must avoid thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. If you want to challenge God on why He had an earthquake in Haiti, feel free. I think I'll just be quiet here. Like Job, I'll lay my hand over my mouth and seek instead to know the God of all the universe better rather than question His character and wisdom.
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