Where is God when Natural Disasters Strike?

I would like, in some way, to debunk some Christian myths and dispel spiritual or religious ignorance that exists in some circles in the Church.  I read an article in the Gleaner sometime ago that suggested that God was merciful to Jamaica in turning away Hurricane Matthew from our island because of the prayers of Jamaicans (although we were deserving of His wrath) and merciless to Haiti because of the wickedness of Haitians despite the prayers of righteous Haitians. I feel compelled to respond to this warped theology.  I feel compelled to declare my presuppositions and assumptions as well as my identity at the outset.

First, I am a Christian pastor and student of the Bible and theology. This means that I come to this issue against the backdrop of a theistic worldview with God at the center of the universe as its Creator, Sustainer, and “Renewer,” so to speak. I also operate within the context of a creation-fall-redemption motif. I do not assume that there is no God like the atheists and I do not think that if there is a god, he is not involved in human affairs, like the agnostics and deists. I also assume that God is all-powerful and, at the same time, all-loving.

Now, the pivotal question here is this: where is this all-powerful and all-loving God in natural disasters and in human suffering? Was God “our very present Help” in our trouble here in Jamaica when we faced the potential devastation of the monster hurricane called Matthew and was he absent when Matthew was devastating Haiti, eastern Cuba, and the Bahamas? Where was he yesterday (May 16, 2017) when flood waters were devastating parts of Jamaica. We must first realize that God does allow the world to operate by natural laws, which, when they are contravened, have deadly consequences. The challenges with man-caused climate change is a perfect example. When we refuse, like Donald Trump and many Republicans, to acknowledge our role in violating natural laws which lead to the prevalence of natural disasters, we demonstrate unenlightened bigotry and unenviable, and even laughable, obliviousness and ignorance. This is unfortunate and regrettable.

The next issue that we have to wrestle with is the apparent partiality of God in a theology of prayer that has God favouring one nation over another although both nations are filled with corruption, criminality, inhumanity, and moral degradation. When we write articles and insinuate that the fervent prayers of people in one nation contribute to the demonstration of divine mercy and those of people of faith in another nation with similar socio-economic problems do not result in the experience of the same kind of mercy, we give the skeptics, naysayers and atheists fodder to keep their fires of unfaith and skepticism burning. We must be balanced and sober in our analysis of natural disasters and God’s role therein.

Furthermore, when one views natural evil or disaster and even moral evil from the perspective of the creation-fall-redemption motif, one understands in a clearer way what is happening on this planet. The created order is undergoing decay because of the Fall and its consequences. However, the Lord has enacted his plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. The fact is Haiti as well as Jamaica is subject to natural disasters as a direct result of the Fall and humankind’s obduracy relative to the abuse of the planet. Unfortunately, and perhaps due to an accident of nature, the experts claim that Haiti lies smack in the middle of a fault line between tectonic plates, which makes it more vulnerable to earthquakes than other countries in the Caribbean (some claim Jamaica is also vulnerable) and it stands in the direct trajectory of hurricanes. Why do these realities exist? I cannot provide the ultimate answers.

What I can declare, though, is that, no matter what happens on this planet, God is there with us. We speak of a good God and a loving God, but we tend not to speak about a suffering God who is right there with His creatures in their pain. Why he has not already said the word and changed the human condition of suffering and pain, I do not know. What I know is that he will transform the created order based on his timing and timeline. We should be humble enough to pray that His will be done and accept the truth that we are not in control of our destiny.

Finally, I remember watching Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti in the aftermath of that destructive earthquake of 2010 that claimed over three hundred thousand lives when the crushing impact of cholera is taken into consideration. Mr. Cooper decided to air and comment on an ad hoc service that a group of faith-driven Haitians decided to have in the midst of the rubble in one of the affected areas. Believe it or not, right there in their excruciating pain with signs of devastation all around them, the people began to sing in their language the following: “Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide ‘till the day is done. There’s not a Friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one.” Those people were living out a sound theology of prayer and suffering.  It is a theology that says that I may not understand why God did not answer my prayers but I trust this Guide in the midst of my suffering. What is more profoundly spiritual than that?

I would like to suggest a few things, which reflect profound spirituality. We should become advocates for the preservation of our planet. We should speak up against deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases in the name of the seemingly almighty dollar. We should go where the poor are, feel their pain, and contribute to the mitigation of their circumstances. People who are lifted out of poverty are in a better position to survive natural disasters. We should not just pray that God changes things; we should pray that he changes us so that we could change some things around us and make a difference in disaster preparedness and emergency management.

Denominations should not just have departments of church planting and evangelism and prayer ministries. We should also have departments of emergency and crisis intervention and mitigation. We should not just have posh looking church buildings; we should have hospitals, hospices and homes for the vulnerable and disadvantaged among us. We should form organizations that mobilize people against bad governance and government corruption in the management of the natural resources of our nations.  It is then and only then that we would be the stewards of this planet that God intended us to be.