Are Calamities, Catastrophes and Disasters Really Judgments from
God
I remember hearing someone curse after which they stubbed their
toe on a table, someone blurted out "see God punished you for
cursing." This sort of thinking is more pervasive than you might
think. But what is the truth, does God follow behind us with a
whip or a rod ready to crack us across the knuckles for every
infringement or infraction of his rules?
Thirty five years of Bible reading has convinced me that God is
not nit-picky. He doesn't judge every little infraction we make
as we go minute by minute through the day. In fact to believe
that he does borders on the insane and comes well within the
borders of frivolous nonsense. What is not frivolous is that God
will judge an individual, a collective group, a nation or the
entire world for behavior that has "passed beyond the mark." He
is marvelously patient but in common vernacular, He ain't no
fool.
You've got to ask the question, if man judges, punishes, and
corrects his offspring why wouldn't God? Are we greater than
Him? Using the Bible lets take this question to task and that
will help us to do a much needed reality check in this area.
In the book of Deuteronomy 28 1-14 there are over a dozen
pronouncements of blessings to anyone who chooses to heed God's
commandments and adhere to them faithfully as the live each day.
Conversely, there are over fifty verses of curses and calamities
for those who decide they are going to ignore His commands and
live any way they like, Deuteronomy 28:15f. Things like madness,
hemorrhoids and terrors are included in the heap just to name a
few.
Any theologian worth his salt knows that the ongoing judgment
for sin in this world is a sure thing and it is the very reason
there is a thorn on the rose. The only question remaining is
which of the disasters and other calamities that befall us are
his direct judgments. This is much harder to answer.
I am an evacuee from hurricane Katrina and Rita, was that a
judgment from God. I have pondered this question a lot. When I
consider the areas hit by the many hurricanes in this country in
the last few years I noticed one thing they all had in common.
They are all play lands and resort areas in one way or another.
The Florida resorts and beaches, the Gulf coast casinos and
hotels, the New Orleans French Quarter and the Mexican resort
play land of Cancun. Could this have anything to do with it,
perhaps?
I don't think I'm wise enough to know for sure if all that
destruction is God's judgment but I am inclined to think it is.
When the tsunami struck the coasts of Indonesia and other Asian
countries I pondered the same question. I have become more
inclined to see that disaster as Gods judgment only because I
discovered a little known fact about that area only a few days
after the Tsunami struck. That part of the world has the largest
black market children for sale activity in the world. How large,
twelve billion dollars a year large. Couple that fact with this
verse of scripture fond in Matthew 18:6 and, you be the judge.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
God is not Santa Claus or a doting old grandfather in the sky
who sloppily bestows endless benefits and gifts to us while
ignoring our injustice and excesses. It may be a bit
presumptuous to call every calamity that arises, a judgment of
God but it is far more presumptuous to think he will stand idly
by while we sin and party ourselves into a stupor.