Those of you who have been following the news about the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria know how massive the devastation is.  In the wee morning hour, the earthquake struck and took the lives of more than twenty thousand people. I am sure none among the dead would have known that that night when they went to bed, they would never wake up anymore.  The poor and the rich, the weak and the mighty, faced the same fate.  We never know when.

And, we do not know why, either.  Why did it happen?  Why did they have to die that night?  We do not have the answer. 

What we know is that the whole creation—which includes the earth—has been “groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” along with us, who “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).  Sin has made a devastating impact not only on us but also on God’s other creation.  Nothing works properly anymore, and that includes nature, not only our nature.  While we are still here waiting for the coming of Jesus, all these disasters or “groanings” will occur.

Life can be hard, so we need God’s power and life can be confusing, so we need God’s wisdom.  Without God’s power, we’d succumb to hardship and without God’s wisdom, we might lose faith in His goodness and love.  Draw from His power and seek to understand what happens through God’s wisdom found in the Scriptures; otherwise, we will be tossed to and fro by the waves of life. 

Albeit we find no satisfactory answer, catastrophes tend to wake us up and force us to think about God and His love and power, which reminds me of what C. S. Lewis poignantly says, “God whispers in our pleasures, speak in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” We hear Him loud and clear.

Pastor Paul