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Where Is God When Disaster Strikes?


Headlines scream: "Massive earthquake wreaks havoc." "Death toll passes
120,000" (40 times the number killed on September 11, 2001). "Ten countries in
Asia
are cleaning up and counting the dead as the world community rushes emergency
supplies to the region." "Death toll rises to 150,000."

The terrible heartbreak of multiplied thousands who have lost loved ones and
their homes is beyond comprehension. The whole world is in shock at the
enormity of the horrific Asian Tsunami disaster.

Sadly though, most of the world has all but ignored the multiplied
mega-thousands of people who have been slaughtered in the Sudan by militant
religionists
and the more than a million refugees who have been left homeless—many of whom
are dying of starvation.

Add to this the tragic loss of lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, the growing
increase of terrorism in various parts of the world, and the ongoing
Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Think too of the many business scandals in recent
days such
as the Enron debacle and the tragic loss of lives among AIDS victims.

And here on our own doorstep in North America (a land so greatly blessed with
freedom and opportunities the like of which so much of the rest of the world
has never seen) the increasing attacks against Christianity, the
"de-Christmas-ing" of Christmas, and the accelerating moral decline are nothing
short of
alarming. Imagine, if you can, the tragic consequences to our entire society if
all the churches were closed and people were forbidden to worship God.

Men have forgotten God, that's
why all this has happened.

Again I'm reminded of the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian-born
Nobel Prize winner for literature(1970), who said, "Over half a century ago
while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the
following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men
have forgotten God, that's why all this has happened.'"

Was September 11, 2001 a wakeup call from God the spiritual response to which
fizzled out in a matter of weeks? Could the Asian Tsunami be another of God's
wakeup calls to a world where multiplied millions have forgotten or ignored
God?

At the same time Jesus himself reminded us that wars, pestilence,
lawlessness, and earthquakes would increase as the time of his return
approaches. Let us
pray that his return will be soon so as to put an end to all the evil that is
tearing millions of lives and families apart ... as well as all the natural
disasters that are happening.

In the mean time, however, in the words of songwriter Steve Green, "People
need the Lord ... At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door ... When will
we realize that we must give our lives, For people need the Lord. People need
the Lord."

And that's what the Christian gospel is all about ... it's about helping
people find God ... helping them find God's assurance of hope, love, spiritual
renewal and best of all, his gift of forgiveness, salvation and eternal life.

Indeed, people need the Lord.

Copyright © Richard (Dick) Innes




























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