As a family, we’ve experienced life-and-death disaster situations where we didn’t know what would be the outcome. Praying, trusting God, and believing He was with us helped us through each one.
For many going through a natural disaster, the goal is to survive and stay alive, and that's the motivation that keeps individuals going. Often, they don't have time to focus on the shock and trauma they may be facing. Most aren’t dissecting and asking the questions that seem to come up after it’s all over. However, in the aftermath of what occurred, many start questioning, wondering, and trying to understand the reason behind what just happened to them.
Discovering losses, wading through grief (often exhausted), and recovering from the experience can weigh heavy on the heart and mind.
Often, the “what ifs” start visiting and pecking away at a person’s thinking, wondering what they could or couldn’t have done to avoid it, or what they did or didn’t do to bring it on themselves, taking on the blame and carrying the responsibility and regret for what they just experienced.
For many who suffer disasters, it seems like God isn’t there, that He’s deserted them, which stirs up questions like, “Where was He when we needed Him?” and "Why didn’t He rescue and deliver us like His Word promises He will do?”.
Even Christians, who know there is nothing too difficult for God, may struggle and wonder, “Why didn’t God warn us?”, “Why didn’t God prevent it?”, and “Why would God allow us to go through it?".
For many, it becomes a crisis of faith, of doubting God’s love, and of struggling with unanswered questions. But as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8:39-40, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
As well, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 explains how after the trauma of a disaster, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Hebrews 13:5 assures us that God promises to never leave us or forsake us. So even though we don’t think or sense God is with us, we know from His Word that He is there in the midst of the disaster with us.
God lets us know in His Word, in the Book of Job, that just because we experience disasters doesn’t mean we brought it on ourselves or did something to cause it to happen.
Job 1:6-12 paints the picture of what took place:
“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.’”
“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’”
“’Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Satan replied. ‘Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.’”
“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.’ Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”
We may not always understand the “whys” of God’s way, of why He gave Satan permission to strike everything Job had, which resulted in great tragedy for him and the losses of his home, his livelihood, and his family, experiencing what seems like one unbearable, heartbreaking loss after another. But even through all his suffering and losses, Job stood strong in His faith in God and didn’t lose hope, saying in Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him; I will surely defend my ways to His face.”
Still, like some people today, Job’s friends tried to convince him that he must have brought disaster on himself.
Loss of possessions, homes, jobs, finances, and families also come to many through the actions of others, disasters brought on by people’s actions with an aftermath that stirs up similar questions.
Consider Joseph, who didn’t know what was coming after he shared his vivid dream with his ten half-brothers. As he describes in Genesis 37:7, “We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
Some may say Joseph brought this human-origin disaster on himself, but it isn’t so. His brothers already hated him, so hearing his dream just caused them to feel justified in getting rid of him. Though they intended to do away with him for good, they put him into slavery.
“So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it” (Genesis 37:23-24).
Joseph’s disaster was stirred up and created by men, and he experienced slavery, imprisonment, and false accusations. Like many do, it would have been easy for Joseph to wonder what he had done to deserve these things happening in his life.
Like Job, Joseph was a righteous man who hadn’t done anything to bring these difficulties into his life. Although we may not fully understand God’s ways in our lives, He allowed the disaster to occur in their lives because it was fulfilling His plan and will for them, and in Joseph’s life, a plan that led to his dream being fulfilled.
Genesis 42:6 describes how his dream came true: “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.”
Still, after all he endured at the hands of others, including family members, Joseph didn’t blame himself or them for what had taken place but rather told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
Although Joseph didn’t face a natural disaster like a hurricane, flood, tornado, or earthquake, through the actions brought on by people, his own family, he lost his freedom, his home, and precious years with his family.
All in all, Joseph lived out and seemed to understand a truth that Paul would write about hundreds of years later: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Whether we’ve faced natural disasters or ones brought on by people, we may not ever have our questions answered. It’s when our faith and trust in God are tested, tried, and strengthened. Even though difficult to face, Psalm 26:2 reminds us, “Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.”
Heavy losses are ones felt for a lifetime and not easily forgotten, often taking years to work through. Yet, God assures us that “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Psalm 126:5-6).
We may not be able to even consider how that’s possible after living through a disaster, but still, it’s coming to terms with and knowing, “Yes. God could have kept us from going through it, and He could have stopped it from happening, but He allowed us to experience it in our lives."
It’s about our believing in and trusting God to be loving and faithful toward us even during times of unexpected distress, sorrow, and loss. It’s our belief that even if He allowed it to take place in our lives, He has an eternal purpose for it that we may not ever understand here on earth.
Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Mario Tama/Staff
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.