How Could God Do This?

    The tornado tragedy in Oklahoma is heartbreaking. The idea of an elementary school being leveled by an E5 tornado is horrible.  And then you hear first responders recount how they found remains of three children huddled together under the body of the teacher who had been attempting to shield them. Wow. The loss of life, property damage, and lots of individual stories make the situation difficult to follow on the news. I have a hard time watching it.
    Then we ask, “How could God do something like this?”
    As a Christian, I believe that God is sovereign. That means that he is in complete control. He is in charge. Jesus reassured us that even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father caring about it. So what about these tornadoes, the human suffering, the children? Does God care more about a sparrow learning to fly than he does the people in Moore, Oklahoma?
    Jesus did not say that the Father would keep the sparrow from ever falling. In fact, Jesus told his followers that in this world, we will have great difficulty (John 16:33). Tragedy was also a reality of life when Jesus was on the earth and he didn’t prevent it all. There were hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes then as well. He did calm the storm, one time. But there were a lot of storms going on in Palestine in his lifetime. He didn’t calm all of them.
    So how can we say God is sovereign?
    You might remember from our “Heaven” series that God gave the responsibility to care for the earth to Adam in the Garden. And you probably remember what Adam and Eve did with it, they turned it over to God’s enemy, Satan. When sin came into the picture, this world came under Satan’s domain, and corruption over all of creation ensued. That’s why Jesus referred to Satan as “the god of this world.”
    Today, we live in a fallen world, ruled by the enemy of God. Through Jesus, he has paid the ransom necessary for our reconciliation and this world’s redemption (Romans 8). He could retake and remake the world right now without all of the evil, natural disasters and suffering. All of that, being under his sovereignty, could be dealt with in an instant, and it will be someday. But the Apostle Peter said that God was holding out to give opportunity for more people to respond to his offer of salvation (2 Peter 3:9). It is by his mercy that he is patient. In the mean time, we live in a world that is filled with very real trouble, because it is under another temporary ruler.
    The Lord does not leave us alone in it, however. He promised to be present with us and to walk with us through our greatest trials. But our promise of deliverance will be realized in the next world, not in this one.
    So, how could God do this? Remember, evil is best defined by what is left over when God is not there. This is a world that is under Satan’s domain. God does intervene on rare occasions, but out of respect for human choice, he has allowed the corruption of sin to work its way out to its logical conclusion. The trouble in this world, including natural disasters, is what we have as a result.
    If we will look to him in the middle of it, he would love to reveal himself to us.