Does God Really Cause Disasters?
Here are some verses to consider, then you decide.
Isa 45:7
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'
NKJV
Ex 4:11-12
11 So the LORD said to him,"Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?
NKJV
Lev 14:33-34
34 "When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession,
NKJV
Deut 32:39
39'Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal;
NKJV
1 Sam 2:6-7
6 "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. 7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.
NKJV
Lam 3:31-38
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. 33 For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. 34 To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, 36 Or subvert a man in his cause — The Lord does not approve. 37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?
NKJV
Eccl 7:14
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
NKJV
Job 1:21
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
NKJV
Why Would God Cause Disasters?
Well, if you came to the same conclusion as I did then the next question is “Why does God cause Disasters?” The writter of Hebrews gives us the answer.
Heb 12:5-11
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives."
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
NKJV
The NIV puts verse 7 this way: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.” So the hardships of this world are the things which we struggle against and by struggling we grow. If we had nothing to struggle against, then how would we ever grow. Why would a basketball team ever want to get better if they don’t have another basketball team with which to struggle against? How could you measure how good a basketball team is unless they have another team with which to compare?
Therefore, consider the hardships of this life as the measuring stick with which to measure your confidence in your Creator.
Jeanne Guyon in the book “Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ” says that we should treat everything that happens to us as if it comes from God. Maybe we should treat it that way because that is the way it is!
Don’t forget Paul’s wonderful words on suffering. Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Jesus answer's the question, "Why does God allow suffering in the world?" In John 9:3, Jesus says that the man was born blind so that the power of God may be demonstrated in his life. So when a disaster happens in your life, your job is to ask the question, "How do I demonstrate the power of God in this situation?" His Spirit is demonstrated through Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.
May God bless you even in times of trouble.
That is why God Causes Disasters.
