Question: Do you believe that the wildfires in California, the recent hurricanes in the South and other disasters are God’s judgment on America?
Answer: I commend the writer for this insightful question. You’re obviously paying attention. Undoubtedly, you’re wondering if these events are harbingers of the end times. I get it, but I’m answering the question in a more personal form.
I believe that it is difficult to read these disasters in any other way. When I’m ill it’s a trial, when a pandemic spreads around the world it’s a different order. When my house catches fire it’s a test, when entire counties are incinerated or flooded, it seems reasonable to call it a judgment. Invariably the follow-up question is “Why? Why is the Lord doing this?”
There is no pat answer to this. All I can offer is several caveats. First, never assume that a tragedy or calamity is the direct result of an individual’s sin. That is the reason we have the book of Job. Granted it is a possibility that someone’s sin results in judgment. Read John 9 and notice that the disciples assumed the blind man, or his parents were responsible for the man’s condition. Jesus states that some cases are for God’s glory.
Second, read Luke 13:1-5. Jesus was questioned about the Galileans slaughtered by Pilate and about the 18 people killed by a fallen tower. In essence, “Why is God doing this?” Jesus turns the question on them. “You should rather be asking: ‘Why didn’t the tower fall on me? Why isn’t my house burning down?’”
Third, the Bible is clear – judgment is never the end. There is much mercy in God’s judgment. As He punishes, He also reveals, sorts and sifts. The Lord uses pain for saving, eternal purposes. C.S. Lewis famously wrote: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
If this is a judgment, then are you going to waste it? God uses these calamities to bring us to repentance. The proper response is brokenness, humility and ultimately faith in Jesus for salvation.
Rev. Charles Harrah
Christ Church
North Cape May
