The year was 2001. I went to the office as was my routine. Helen (my wife) phoned me from her workplace to alert me of a terrible disaster. I quickly returned home and turned on CNN. The video footage was shocking as I watched planes crashing into the twin towers of New York City. It left me with an uncertainty in terms of safety. It was September 11th.
Today I received a call at the office once again from Helen to inform me of another devastating disaster - an 8.9 earthquake hit Japan. Northern Japan suffered the most devastation; and even as I write this blog, a tsunami is pushing miles inland. The video footage is riveting, but at the same time difficult to watch. Again, I am left with a feeling of uncertainty in terms of safety. Today is March 11th.
I am reminded of the same nagging feeling that I have had each time I watched such disasters: Is God trying to tell the church something through such disasters? I suppose over the next number of weeks modern day prophets will surface and speak of God's judgment upon the wickedness of Japan and the Japanese people. My question in response to that is always, "Why would God enforce His wrath upon a place like Japan and not upon our North American society?"
Most 'natural' disasters can be 'naturally', geologically explained. The earth's crust is constantly changing and shifting. I am no expert on geology or global warming, but I can't help but think that global warning is having a progressive effect on the changing and shifting of the earth's crust; especially in terms of speeding up the process.
I mention this because we so quickly blame God and His wrath for the happening of such disasters. But maybe we should place the greater part of the blame upon ourselves.
Greed, capitalism, affluence, and the like are all contributors to global warming. Greed and capitalism all feed into our affluent lifestyle that we are not willing to give up. Debates about global warming are political agendas that we hear about during elections and then become swallowed up into bureaucratic red tape once the elected party is in power.
God blessed His creation from the beginning to have dominion over all things. He has placed the power of responsibility into our hands (believers) to care for every aspect of His wonderful creation. He wants us to depend upon Him, to show us how to carry out that responsibility. It seems to me that we should take at least part of the blame when such disasters happen around the world; especially if we are silent on such issues as global warming.
The easy thing to do is blame Japan for its sin, and blame God for His wrath. However, this is not great theology on our part if this is our thinking. Instead, let us rise up as intercessors for the Lord. Pray for Japan and the surrounding area. Be willing to stand in the gap on their behalf. Pray for the rescue that is taking place. Pray for miracles. Pray for families who will be devastated because of the loss of loved ones. And be willing to give your support in whatever way God leads you to help Japan to rise above the devastation that has hit them. My suggestion is to freely give financially to either the Sharing Way or the Red Cross for relief and and the rebuilding of Northern Japan.
Let us pray.
Blessings,
-Leo
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