Hello,
As I write today’s Bungee Cord, some time has passed since Hurricane Florence struck the southeast leaving a trail of turmoil behind it. I am sure that for those who were hit by the storm, time has stopped and it seems like just yesterday that the winds and the water were surging. For some, these tragic and capricious storms stir up questions, questions of divine doubt. “How can you believe in a God who makes/lets storms like this happen?”
Personally, I think that this question is a good question, because it recognizes the pain and suffering that storms of this nature bring. And because it is a thoughtful question, I think it deserves a thoughtful answer. When I hear Christians answer, “Well, God has a plan for everything,” to me, that is an answer that is given with little thoughtful wrestling with the misery that has cascaded into people’s lives. Or, when I hear Christians say, “It is a punishment for ________,” I find that a lacking answer because it usually is a punishment for someone else’s stumblings, or it forgets that those who are inflicted by a tragedy are not the only ones that might come under the judgment of punishment. Or, when I hear Christians say, “God is trying to teach us something,” it seems to me that such teaching is like trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer, and who would want that kind of teacher?
How can I believe in a God who makes/lets storms like this happen? My answer, as incomplete as it might be is this; the God that I believe in has shown that he doesn’t passively and callously just watch the storms roll in, he jumps into the storm and rescues people, saves people. That is what Jesus, and Christianity, is all about. The God that I have come to see in Jesus flies like a hurricane chasing plane, right into the center of the storm to be where the storm is the strongest. This God doesn’t turn tail and run when the storm is fierce, but walks right into it and takes it on, head on. This God throws all caution to the wind, and winds up in a death battle with the storm on a cross. This God even goes to the place where storms claim their final victory, the grave, and steals that victory from them. The reason that I can believe in a God who makes/lets storms (whether it is true that it is God who makes/lets storms happen is another question that for today’s Bungee Cord, I am passing over….maybe a Bungee Cord to come?)….the reason that I can believe in a God who makes/lets storms happen is that the God that I believe in takes on every storm…..and wins!
It may be that you, like I, missed the brunt of Hurricane Florence’s fury, but you and I know that there are plenty of storms ahead, not necessarily meteorological ones, that will take aim at us and hit us head on. And when that happens there are two things that, like those floaters that wander in your eyes, come into my vision; the Good Friday cross and the empty Easter morning grave. In a battle in which only God, who is beyond time, can engage, Jesus, the Son of God, gathers into the battle cage of the cross, every storm that rumbles into life, and in a battle to the death, crushes the life right out of those storms. Breathing his last breath and shouting, “It is finished.” And in a victory that only God, the author of life, can claim, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads his flock through the valley of the shadow of death, not needing fear any evil.
When I see storms, like Hurricane Florence, stampede in this world, it is hard for me to believe that anyone would risk their lives, fly into the center of the storm…or risk their lives and stay with those who cannot escape it. But they do. And when I see storms of any kind take their deadly aim at people, I find it hard to believe that there is a God who charges into the eye of the storm, risking everything….but in Jesus I see that that is exactly what God does….and that is why I believe in this God.
Prayers for all who suffer.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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