CALAMITIES OF NATURE

The news seems to be filled more and more with natural calamities. Tornadoes on land, hurricanes at sea, floods, earthquakes and famines, seem all to wait in line to happen, each more terrible than the preceding, each raising anew the question as old as sin: "Why?"

The problem of "theodicy" is not easily dismissed. This technical term means "to call God into judgment." By definition, it is really unthinkable. "Who art thou, 0 man, that answerest back to God?" Yet the reality of evil is ever-present, and, try as we might, we cannot avoid meeting it head-on. What, therefore, may we learn from God's revelation about such calamities, and their relationship to man and sin?

Body

I. Sin is directly related to human suffering.

   A. Romans 5:12 -- This entire context, from this verse to the end of the chapter, is an analogy setting the dreadful consequences of Adam's sin next to the glorious consequences of Christ's obedience and righteousness.

   B. Romans 8:20-22 -- Because of man's sin, creation itself was brought into bondage and frustration. In God's plan, creation will share redemption from the curse when the children of God reach glory.

   C. John 11:33 -- Jesus was indignant and alarmed at the horrible reality of death, with its God-defying denial of life as He had intended it to be. Death, as well as sin and all its effects, was foreign to Jesus' desires and work.

II. Yet man cannot make specific connections between particular tragedies and particular individuals. The direct relationship between sin and calamity is known only to God.

   A. John 9:1-3 -- The man born blind was not the culprit responsible for his blindness, nor were his parents, although -somewhere -- sin was.

   B. Luke 13:1- 5 -- When disasters occurred in His lifetime, Jesus warned against supposing that their victims were more wicked than their neighbors.

   C. Matthew 5:44-45 -- God does good to those who are wicked; the wicked, therefore, are not directly punished now for their sins.

   D. Job 38ff -- Job learned that his own suffering was not the result of his personal sin.

   E. "The only safe moral we can draw from the judgments of God, or what seem to us His judgments, is the warning: Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Preacher's Homiletic Commentary). We cannot assume that those who suffer from natural disasters are more guilty than those who escape.

III. Calamities may be trumpet-warnings from God, calling men to repentance.

   A. Revelation 8:1, 2.

   B. Revelation 9:20, 21.

IV. Calamities remind us of the brevity of life (James 4:13-17).

V. Calamities bring opportunities for Christians to do good. Let the church and Christians not become so involved with doctrinal controversies, or so engrossed in "spiritual" affairs, that they ignore the daily tests of love and faith. Jesus' words stand as constant warnings, that "inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me."

Conclusion

We may know that calamities and all evil come from sin, not from God. We may not, however, specifically relate events and persons in a cause-effect relationship. We may be warned by calamities and reminded of the brevity of life. We may see in disasters opportunities for serving God by serving those in need.

Finally, we may speak, with Habakkuk and the Psalmist, the ultimate word of unknowing but trusting faith. Even when we do not understand, we may trust. See Habakkuk 3; Psalm 71:14-18; Psalm 22:1-3, 22-31.

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