What has happened in Japan is truly heartbreaking. I'm sure many are asking, “Why did this happen?” “How come there are disasters like this?” “Is there a God?” Like this guy who sat beside me in an airplane twenty years ago one springtime. I was on my way back to Australia after a brief vacation here in the US. It was just a few days after a powerful cyclone hit Bangladesh that claimed about 150,000 lives in that tiny nation. I struck a conversation with this guy, who was a businessman from Atlanta, talking about different topics until we veered toward spiritual matters. That's when he said that he didn't believe in God. And the reason why he didn't is because of natural disasters like the one that devastated Bangladesh. To him that was proof enough that God didn't exist. If he did, he wouldn't allow such violent natural calamity to occur.
I don't remember exactly how I responded. But I think I told him what the Bible says about how God created everything perfect at first and the fall of man resulted in evil and imperfection in the world. I believe I mentioned, too, that a time will come when God will put things back in order and, therefore, there is hope for everyone in this world. The man seemed mollified afterwards because he looked more relax and I was able to get his address in Australia so we could converse some more.
That man's faith was shaken because of a major calamity. Yet, it doesn't take a cyclone or tsunami to affect one's belief in God. It can be affected by the loss of a loved one, a financial breakdown, or a series of personal setbacks. Been there, done that. God, however, is in control as I found out. He is still on his throne and will put things back in order just like what I said to that guy. Psalm 46:1-3 gives us this assurance, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Let's continue to keep Japan and its citizens in our prayers. Let's pray that this event will bring many of them to call on the real God.
I don't remember exactly how I responded. But I think I told him what the Bible says about how God created everything perfect at first and the fall of man resulted in evil and imperfection in the world. I believe I mentioned, too, that a time will come when God will put things back in order and, therefore, there is hope for everyone in this world. The man seemed mollified afterwards because he looked more relax and I was able to get his address in Australia so we could converse some more.
That man's faith was shaken because of a major calamity. Yet, it doesn't take a cyclone or tsunami to affect one's belief in God. It can be affected by the loss of a loved one, a financial breakdown, or a series of personal setbacks. Been there, done that. God, however, is in control as I found out. He is still on his throne and will put things back in order just like what I said to that guy. Psalm 46:1-3 gives us this assurance, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Let's continue to keep Japan and its citizens in our prayers. Let's pray that this event will bring many of them to call on the real God.
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