How to Think Biblically Toward Calamity, Part 2

“I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things” – Isa. 45:7

Lesson #2:  Even if Satan caused that tsunami in the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, 2004, he is not the decisive cause of over 200,000 deaths; God is.

God claims power over tsunamis in Job 38:8 and 11 when He asks Job rhetorically, “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb . . . and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”  God is the one who tells the ocean how car up the coast it can travel. He is the one who keeps the ocean from covering the land.  God says, “Up to this point,” and it stops!  Psalm 89:8–9 says, “O Lord . . . you rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.”

The gospels speaks of Jesus Himself having the same control today as He once did over the deadly threats of waves: “He . . . rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). In other words, even if Satan caused the earthquake, he is only a secondary cause, for God is the primary cause.  Even so, God could have stopped the waves. But He didn’t.

Don’t ever divorce God from calamity as if He is passively sitting by and watching bad things happen without His control and intentions. Every disaster, every calamity, God is the primary cause. Yet, He is all good and all righteous.  You may think you know what good and righteous is, but you and I do not know the full extent.  We have only been given through revelation a portion of what righteousness and goodness is.  All we can do during such calamitous times is to say what Abraham said when he thought about God destroying a whole city along with the righteous – “Shall not the judge of the earth do what is right?” (Gen. 18:25).

End of Part 2

Diving Deep in the Sea of God’s Sovereignty, Part 7

Principle: The Lord God is mighty and wise; no man, no nation, no force of nature can thwart His holy plans.

“No purpose of mine can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

“I do according to my will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay my hand or say to me, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35)

“There is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?” (Isaiah 43:13)

How to Think Biblically Toward Calamity, Part 1

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . . This God — his way is perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31)

After the loss of his ten children owing to a natural disaster (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the inspired writer confirms Job’s understanding of what happened. He says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

This is heavy, so we better get use to it. This is the God of the Bible and we will not bring Him low in order to appease your limited human understanding of Him.

Remember reading about all those massive disasters that occurred in 2017?  You can be sure there will be more in 2018. What are we to make of them? Not just the huge ones that manifest in earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes, but the train wrecks, car accidents, and yes, even those nasty and disgusting terrorist attacks.

This has several crucial implications for us.  What are the lessons for us to think about concerning the calamities in the world and in our lives? Like the massive disaster that occurred December 26, 2004, in the Indian Ocean — one of the deadliest natural disasters on record with 1.7 million people made homeless, half a million injured, and over 230,000 killed.

Lesson #1. Satan is Powerful; God is ALL Powerful!

Satan had a hand in Job’s misery, but not the decisive hand. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job (Job 1:12; 2:6). But Job and the writer of this book treat God as the decisive cause. When Satan afflicts Job with sores, Job says to his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10), and the writer calls these satanic sores “the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So, Satan is real. Satan brings misery. But Satan is not ultimate or decisive. He is on a leash. He goes no farther than God decisively permits.

Here is the bottom line – God can prevent all calamities if He chooses. Moreover, no calamity occurs without God’s specified intention.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that Satan and his demons do in this world are only done with God’s direct permission. Listen closely – Satan does not have a free will to choose to do whatever he wants done.  God, and God alone gives Satan permission, the power and resources to do the evil in the world.

Remember, Satan is not the cause of evil and calamity, God is. “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10)

You say, “Pastor Rich, are you saying God is the cause of evil? If so, then that makes God responsible for creating evil and it makes Him evil Himself!”

I admit, it is hard to balance this in our finite brains. But one thing is certain on my end, I will not try to attempt in reconciling passively God allowing evil to occur and at the same time diminish His sovereignty.  God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).  Even though God is the cause of evil, there is no darkness of evil with Him. In God’s sphere of existence, He can be the cause of evil and at the same time not have evil within Himself – not even in the smallest way.

God is supreme beyond comprehension. We just don’t know how it balances satisfactory on this side of heaven. We can try as best within the boundaries of the Bible – it is good cognitive exercise for us and it enables us to really seek God and His unfathomable ways. But never be afraid of believing that God is all powerful and has total control over every molecule in the universe. The Bible knows no other God and we must embrace Him with all of our hearts!

End of Part 1