2004-12-31 - Where Is God? What Do We Say?

Numbers 6:25, "The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you."

On Sunday, I wrote a devo where I said the death total, for the recent Tsunami was over 11,000, and it would grow much higher. I had no idea how high it would grow, and now at 80,000+, we have a right to ask where God is in all this. I just heard that the total dead will easily grow over 100,000, but the end total could reach five million. The numbers just keep rising. Where is God? Where is the Sovereignty of God in this mess? Is God in control? These are questions that are relevant, and we don't have to be embarrassed to ask them. I am writing this on a day I am not supposed to write a devotional, and intend to ask the leaders to send this out, because we must all be asking why God would allow this - and cheer up, it is going to get worse.

So where is God? This is the first question. Unless we want to be Deists and say that God created everything and then just let it fly as it would in a disinterested manner, we have to say that God is involved in all this. If we really believe in the sovereignty of God we have to say that He knew this would happen and knew it from eternity. This is a massive truth, and frankly, life-changing. If God is sovereign and knew this would happen, well theologically, we have serious implications. As a Christian, I can't believe anything but that we have a sovereign God. So where is God? God is reigning in Heaven, and while we can never understand how things go and how He rules, we must trust. To say God reigns takes faith. To say God reigns after the biggest disaster we know of, in world history, takes faith also. There are mysteries in this life, and some things just involve trust and faith.

What do we say? We can expand this to also say: What do we do? This is a great opportunity to talk about our faith in salvation by Christ alone. It is frankly awkward to say the truth that God is sovereign, and yet something like this has happened, but we have to be faithful. If God does not rule, then we are left in despair. Life has no meaning, if there is no God, and there is no forgiveness for sin. We must say that this horrible event was all in God's plan, or we make God an un-sovereign God and thus not God. This is a really hard thing, and we will be dealing with this for years, but we must say that God is faithful, and His will is done. The only other solution to the intellectual question of a disaster like this is anarchy, and that there is not a God. Romans 1 tells us that everyone knows there is a Creator, and that should settle it for us all.

Personally, I have to say that this is just a window into what we are in for in this world. Nuclear technology is so available, that a smart high school student could know the recipe for a bomb. I think we are in for much more in our lifetimes, and maybe many that are not natural events. We don't deserve God's grace, because we have all sinned and fallen short of the standard of serving our Creator as we should. The fact that we are breathing is a signal that God is gracious. We should all drop to our knees and thank the Lord for His undeserved mercy, and pray for His continued favor.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

tim@cfdevotionals.org
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