SW09.11.05am

Today we are remembering the terrorist attack on our country on September 11, 2001 and we are also as a nation trying to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. As Christians we sometimes wonder whether or not God could have prevented that terrorist attack on September 11 and whether God could have nudged that hurricane in another direction.

We also wonder did God cause the hurricane? Did God target the gulf coast with Hurricane Katrina.

I want to share with you a portion of a devotional that I wrote in June 1998. On June 13, 1998 there was an out break of tornadoes in our state:

Did God cause the hurricane? Before we try to answer that question let us consider the Book of Job which has more questions than any other book of the Bible. The Book of Job has over 330 questions in its 42 chapters.

The Gospel of Matthew comes next in number of questions with 180 questions which makes us wonder why the Book of Job has almost twice as many questions. I believe it is because the Book of Job begins with a horrific tragedy and that tragedy underlies all 42 chapters of the book. We all have questions about tragedy.

From the Book of Job we know that Job is a righteous man and judging from his property he was a very wealthy man. But suddenly, without any warning, his family and his flocks are wiped out. Two groups of raiders from Arabia and Mesopotamia take away Job's livestock and kill his servants. Then all of his children are killed when a great wind sweeps in from the desert, striking the four corners of the house, causing it to collapse and all of them die. It was very rapid and it was a terrible blow to Job as it would be to anyone.

In many ways what happened to our nation through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina appear to be similar to Job’s story. A very large part of our family, fellow Americans, and many brothers and sisters in Christ have had their lives wiped out by a violent wind. This country has be dealt a terrible blow - the full extent of this blow we will not know for some time. So what do we do now?

What we do, what many are doing is exactly what Job did when he found out about the tragedy that had come upon him. He was silent when he heard that his flocks and servants had been taken away. But when the news came about the deaths of his children his grief was overwhelming as stood up and tore his robe. Then, he fell to his knees and cried out, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return." Everything that had meaning in his life was gone. It was a sudden and drastic loss and soon he would face a severe disease on top of all of that.

Did God make or allow that mighty wind to collapse those 160,000 homes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana? Jesus says the rain falls on the just and the unjust - He could just as easily have said the wind blows on the just and the unjust.

Most preachers will tell you that God did not cause this hurricane and flood and did not have any purpose in this. And I agree to some extent. But it is more complicated than that.

The theological problem we have is that God is omnipotent. He can and sometimes does intervene in human events. To do the intervening He has used all manner of things from individuals, to floods, to tornadoes, to plagues, to famines, and whatever He wants to use because after all He is God. And if God wanted to He could probably invent something that we had never experienced before to intervene in our lives.

What do we know? The one thing we do know is that God is good, He is righteous, and that He loves us. He proved His love by dying for us - so even when we don’t understand we can trust.

Another thing we know is that for those who love God and are following Him - God will bring good out of this terrible thing. We can stand on Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Let us think now about the evil acts of men as in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The Bible in chapter 13 of the Gospel of Luke tells us what Jesus has to say on this subject. Look at how Jesus addresses man’s inhumanity to man. Luke 13:1-5: There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

There are two events mentioned in this passage. One of the events is what seems to be an accidental collapse of a tower that killed 18 people. The other event was a military attack against civilians ordered by Pontius Pilate. That event was politically and probably religiously motivated.

Israel during the time of Jesus, had been conquered by the Roman Empire and the Roman presence was a constant reminder that they were an occupied nation. The Jewish people wanted to be free and longed for that freedom. As a result a resistance movement had emerged. Pilate was the governor appointed by Rome and was hated.

It is apparent from this passage of Scripture that Pilate ruled with an iron hand in a ruthless way. Pilate apparently had been angered by something that had happened in Galilee and to keep it from happening again made an example of a group of Galilean Jews who were visiting the capitol of Jerusalem. He ordered his soldiers to go into the Temple in the middle of the day, while there were many thousands of people worshipping there, and slaughter those Galileans.

This sent the Jews a powerful message that if they could not keep the peace in their region as Rome demanded than they would suffer the severe consequences at the hands of the Roman legions.

Those men that Pilate had slaughtered were more likely than not innocent. They were easy to reach and just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time to be made an example of.

This story is in the Bible it appears because the disciples wanted to know about something very specific. They wanted to know if these people died because they had sinned more than others? Jesus says in answer: “No.” He then goes on to say to His disciples, “You must repent or you will likewise perish.”

I think Jesus was saying that you need to be prepared for death spiritually because life can be difficult. One day you are here and the next you die in an accident, or a terrorist attack, or a tornado, or a hurricane or at the hands of a drug crazed robber. So, repent. Be spiritually prepared for eternity because you are always only a breath away, a heartbeat away from your eternal destination.

This tells us that we are not simply puppets and God is not up there pulling our strings. We are not all robots that God remotely controls. Neither is nature controlled in such a way. God does not control the world in this way. However, He could and sometimes does - but usually He doesn’t.

There is evil in this world. There is even chaos at times in this world. There can be uncertainty in every direction. God does not always kiss our hurts and make everything all better. Why is it like this? Why doesn’t God make it better for us? Because we are not living in the Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve did in the very beginning.

Everything was perfect then in the Garden of Eden but Adam and Eve sinned and evil entered into this world. The result was that all of creation was corrupted and bad things have happened to good people ever since.

The Psalmist knew this so very well when he said, “Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah (Psalm 77:7-9).” At times it seems as though God has abandoned us to the wolves and does not plan on coming back any time soon.

Those Galileans and those killed by the tower of Siloam were not worse sinners than other people but we must be careful about this. The Bible does make it clear in the Book of Hebrews that if we are His children then He will chasten us/correct us and if He doesn’t then we are not His children. We must not forget what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah - or to all those that perished in the great flood during the time of Noah.

Do you really think that if you are a child of God that you can sin and sin and sin and never repent, never confess (1 John 1:9) without some consequence, without some impact upon your life or someone in your realm of influence?

Of course not! There are always going to be consequences for sin because as Romans 6:23 says, the “wages of sin is death”. Those wages must be paid.

Do you really think that this country can kill millions of unborn babies and for there not to be consequences? Do you really think that the evil, the immorality, the worldliness that is everywhere in this country can go on and on without anything happening?

Do you really think that you can thumb your nose at God and laugh at God and make fun of God over and over and over again - if not with your words, with your life - without His intervention? Judgment may be very slow in coming but it will come. Those who resided in Sodom and Gomorrah know that all too well.

I am not going to stand up here today and say that God is love and that judgment did not come upon the Gulf coast because I don’t want you to think that you can do the things that some were doing down there and get by with it i.e. Bourbon street, prostitution, strip joints, Mardi Gras, illegal drugs, casinos etc. Because the fact is that you can’t get by with it and the Bible says that God is not mocked.

It may be that what happened on the gulf coast and on Sept 11 was a warning to a us all. A warning to us individually, a warning to those areas of our country that were most severely affected, a warning to our country as a whole, along with a warning to the entire world.

These tragedies teach us that we are fragile, mortal human beings and we are fully dependent upon Him. In other words we need God.

We cannot tie everything up in a neat little theological package and say this is why this happened and this is why that happened. It may be politically correct to say that God would never bring judgment upon an area of this country, or upon an entire country, or upon an individual. But do you want to hear the truth or do you just want to hear something that will make you feel good?

We want to hear the politically correct thing and many are preaching that very thing today but that doesn’t mean that it is right.

Job never received an answer as to why all those terrible things happened to his family and to him. God just responded to the questions of Job with more questions. Questions which caused Job to realize that God was indeed God. As God says in the book of Isaiah, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The apostle Paul says that we see through a “glass darkly” but someday we will see clearly. As Paul puts it: “face to face”.

The truth of the matter is that we can never fully understand, fully comprehend here in this flesh, on this earth - but some bright shining day in the presence of our Lord in Heaven we will understand. And on that day we will praise God and believe that all He did was good. BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD!

Two things we know and we can stand on them through any storm, any problem, any difficulty that this life may bring our way. What are those two things? First, God loves you and wants the very best for you. God loved those people who died in the terrorist attack on 9/11. God loves all those people who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina devastation.

How do we know that? Because the Bible tells us in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

What is the second thing that we know? We know Romans 8:28 is true “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God will bring good out of this terrible disaster on the gulf coast. We can look back and see that God brought good out of the 9/11 disaster.

No matter what may happen in your life you need to remember those two things because bad things do happen to good people. And when those bad things happen: Remember this: God loves you and He has proved that love on the cross. He died in your place, took your penalty upon Himself. And remember that if you love God and follow Him - He can and will bring good out of the bad.