Thinking Biblically about Tragedy

How can one process utter tragedy, such as the loss of dozens of lives in Moore, Oklahoma from yesterday’s monster tornado? How can we respond with grace and not despair? How can we still believe in an awesome God who is love, and see evidence of such apparent random carnage coming down from the sky? Where was God? Where is He?

Some will blame God, and others will say He couldn’t have stopped this and hurts as much as any of us over this loss. Either response is unbiblical, and doesn’t correctly assess the true nature of our great God. I shared the following thoughts in a post that I put up following the tragic massacre of children in Newtown, Connecticut last year.

Scripture’s teaching on evil and suffering is that God permits it, and works behind it, to accomplish His purposes. For those who love God and believe in Him (the elect), God works everything together for their good (Rom. 8:28). And ultimately, God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). God “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:35). He “has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). And Amos 3:6 declares soberingly, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?”

If God is truly sovereign, then, why did He choose to allow such sin and suffering in this world?

I go on to quote Jonathan Edwards on the problem of evil in that post, and I encourage you to read the whole post.

But such manifestly biblical teaching can sometimes seem chilling and unfeeling in light of tragedies such as the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. How are we comforted in knowing that God was not surprised by what happened in Moore? And how should Christians respond and think about such natural evil as terrible twisters that leave carnage and destruction in their wake?

Sam Storms, a pastor and writer in Oklahoma, has a response which I commend to my readers. His post is titled “Tornadoes, Tsunamis, and the Mystery of Suffering and Sovereignty.” It’s worth a quick read on a day like today. May you read it and contemplate how to respond biblically to tragedy.

7 thoughts on “Thinking Biblically about Tragedy

  1. Evil exists in the world because of sin. God’s creation is broken and groans in travail. Praise God, Jesus is reconciling all things to himself, including his creation. Praise God we share in the ministry of reconciliation in our efforts to comfort and win the lost to Jesus. At such a time, remember the admonition “inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” Matt. 25:40

  2. Richard, a tornado isn’t evil. There is a huge difference between ethical evil and disaster or destruction. Tornadoes don’t happen because of sin. They are a natural result of our weather patterns. Patterns set in motion by God I might add. Volcanoes erupt, the earth quakes, floods occur, hurricanes happen, etc. In fact, tornadoes are pretty much an American event due to the proximity of our Plains States to both the Rockies and Gulf of Mexico.

    Scripture’s teaching on evil and disaster is that God also causes it. Read Job and tell me that God did not specifically set Satan on Job with the only caveat being that Satan could not kill Job. We don’t like to think that God would do something like this to one of his own children. “Have you considered my servant Job?” God set Satan on Job not once but twice! The first time Satan couldn’t touch Job so he killed all his wealth and children. The second time Satan could do what he wanted to Job short of killing him. This is hardly our view of a kind, compassionate, loving God is it? In fact, at the end of the book (Job 42:11) Job’s friends and siblings are comforting and sympathizing with Job for all the evil (or disaster or destruction if evil is too harsh a word for you) he endured brought on by God.

    God commanded the Israelites at least twice if I remember correctly to kill an entire nation including children and infants – pretty disastrous for them wasn’t it?

    I am saying all this because God is much broader than the neat little box that we want to put him in – IE, God doesn’t directly cause disaster or evil he just allows it to happen.

    God does what he wants and doesn’t consult us about it.

    42 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

    2 “I know that you can do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

    A lesson Job learned the hard way.

  3. I was responding to Bob’s prior article referenced in the posting. I stand by my earlier comment. Evil exists because of sin. You might want to check your life insurance policy before you imply God is responsible for evil. When you start sounding like Lucifer, blaming God for the suffering in the world, you show your true colors.

  4. Richard,

    I find it interesting that you would suggest that God might strike me dead for the comments I made regarding his actions against Job. I also find it interesting that you would suggest that I might very well be the Devil. I am trying to engage in a thoughtful, spiritual, and above all, helpful discussion on the problem of evil in the world. Yes, evil exists because of sin – no one will argue that. However, not all calamity, evil, destruction, or disaster is because of sin. Some of it is directly caused by God The bottom line is that God does indeed bring destruction on people to further his will. If you take the time to read the book of Job you might just find that what I said is really what happened. Don’t let your preconceived view of God blind you to the truth of Scripture. God was directly responsible for what happened to Job. I didn’t say this – he did. I guess Job’s friends and relatives and the author of Job are just as guilty as I for suggesting that God brought destruction, calamity, disaster, or evil against Job (Job 42:11). What other interpretation can you give this passage other than what it says? Again, God does what he wants and he doesn’t consult us about it nor does he care if we think what he does is right or not.

    1. Berkeley

      Let me first apologize for coming on too strong. I will admit that my sarcasm was a little over the top. I do understand your point, although I don’t think you understand mine. I take umbrage when I see misguided theological attempts to blame my Savior for every evil act or every calamity because of some hardened view of God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty does not require that He be responsible for every calamitous event, or for all human suffering. Yes, there are times when God brings calamity to serve His purpose in election, but such is not always the case. When Adam Lanza killed 20 precious children, he was not doing the will of God. Our God never told him to do such a thing. The horrendous tragedy was the result of pure evil at work as a consequence of the fall. We let in the darkness contrary to the will of God, not in service of it.

      Yes, God does what He wants. Stop reading from the talking points. It’s a “straw man” argument. No one thinks he can tell God what to do. Making such obvious objectionable points does nothing to strengthen your position. You’re just setting up straw men to knock them over all by yourself. Do you think God wanted 20 children killed in Connecticut? Anyone who thinks such a thing is sick in his soul. Do you think God wanted 6 million Jews incinerated? I have had two close friends who committed suicide in the last year, one a Pastor (of a reformed church I might add) and the other the son of a Pastor. Both took their lives as the consequence of sin in their lives. Both sowed to the flesh and reaped corruption. Their deaths were contrary to God’s will and purpose in election. We live in a sin-cursed world, Berkeley. So much of the evil and suffering in the world is the consequence of sin. We reap what we sow, just as God warned. Reaping corruption when we sow to the flesh is our fault, not God’s. Stop blaming God for every tragedy and calamity, and for all human suffering.

      2 Thess. 2:7 tells us that “only He who letteth (hinders or resists) will let, until He be taken out of the way.” As the day of The Lord approaches, God’s Spirit will be withdrawn from this sin-cursed world, and unspeakable evil will become more and more prevalent. We are beginning to see it as God removes His hedge of protection, and in your generation Berkeley. But God does not hinder Himself. He hinders evil, He is not the author of it.

      Yes, God does bring tribulation in our lives to serve His purpose, but not every calamity is God’s doing. Very often, we are the authors of our own grief and suffering. Understand the principle of reaping and sowing, Berkeley. The prodigal son did not find himself face down in the pigsty because his father wanted him there. He got there all by himself. He sowed to the flesh, and reaped corruption. This sin-cursed world is no different. We are reaping what we have sown. It’s time we accepted responsibility. It’s time we said “I will arise and go to my father.”

  5. Richard,

    I could not agree with you more. I did not mean to imply that God is the one that brings evil into the world. It was Satan who actually brought evil, calamity, destruction on Job. God used Satan’s desire for evil to work his righteousness in the life of Job. Adam Lanza did what he did because of sin and his own actions although I do believe a valid argument could be made about Lanza’s state of mind at the time he killed all those children. Bottom line – sin in this world and the work of Satan is responsible for the murders in Newtown.

    I also think that, natural disasters, as devastating as they are, are more a result of our close proximity to them rather than weather patterns gone amuck due to the taint of sin. This is based on my worldview, my understanding of geology, and how this earth was created.

    I don’t know that evil is any more prevalent today than it was in the word just prior to the flood. I think that we see things that surprise us living in the Untied States and just assume that the moral decay is getting worse and worse world wide. The Greek and Roman culture was just about as evil as one could get morally speaking and that happened 2500 years ago up to about 1700 years ago. We see things that are changing in this country both politically and morally and we throw our hands up to our cheeks and think that all is lost when in fact all it is,is the world doing what they have always done – acting like the world. A good argument can be made that things are actually improving world wide – slavery is seen for the evil that it is, those who molest children are finally being brought to justice instead of being ignored, women are being treated with the respect they deserve, we believe that all men are created equal – not just white, western European males, we care for the poor, weak, disadvantaged. We gather together to help each other when calamity strikes. Do we have to fight evil? You bet. Do I have to give my life fighting evil? Not yet. No, this world still has quite a way to go in my opinion before the ruler of the civilized world burns Christians as Tiki torches to light a dinner party.

    I don’t know to what “hedge of protection” you are referring. I do know that I am an alien here on this earth. I am a citizen of heaven. I have to live in this world while not being of it. God has much better for me than this orb I am now on.

    I Cor 5:9-13

    9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church[b] whom you are to judge? 13 God judges[c] those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

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