At 4:53 p.m. on January 12, 2010, a month ago, a 7.0 earthquake struck with an epicenter 16 miles from Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti. At that moment and in the ensuing days, over 200,000 people lost their lives in Haiti, with estimates of over 300,000 injured and over 1 million people instantly homeless. That latter number is over 10% of the population of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. In events of that magnitude of sadness, many question the presence of the Lord. Pat Robertson blamed the event on Haiti’s “pact with the devil,” and the comment outraged the masses.
Yet throughout the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, God used weather and natural disasters to speak to His people. Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. The moment that Jesus died on the cross, an earthquake tore the temple veil from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51-53). There are multiple examples of similar events. In Isaiah, God said,
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'
Isaiah 45:7
For those who think that God once acted in that regard, but no longer speaks through those kinds of events, the Lord told us that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) “For I am the LORD, I do not change." In fact, God is incapable of change! (Malachi 3:6) God has given dominion of the earth to Satan, for a time, though we must remember, Satan is not the sovereign ruler. Anything that occurs is God’s will, for His purposes. (See Job for clarification on this). That becomes increasingly difficult in the minds of many believers, who cannot fathom how a loving God can allow devastation of that magnitude. Before we question God, we need to remind ourselves of the difference between His knowledge and ours. He is omniscient, and it occurred to me that God has never said, “It occurred to Me.” He has known everything for all of eternity! Because the Father sent His Son to save the world, and in that act demonstrated the greatest love, I am definite in my belief that either those who died were believers and are with Him in heaven, or they never would have made that decision, regardless of the length of their lives. God has gone to the farthest degree imaginable to draw us to Him. We know that the earthquake in Haiti, the one causing the Indian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and similar events are signs of the times. Just before He was crucified, Jesus told His disciples,
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:4-14
We are told that these events will be like labor pains. To remind those of you who have not given birth, labor pains increase in frequency and intensity before the birth occurs. Revelation instructs us that these judgments grow more severe as that period continues. Why would a loving God put His creation under such duress and destruction?
As stated in yesterday’s devotional, we learn our lessons when under duress. When God judges a sinful earth, He still has redemption on His mind. Even in wrath, God is 100% loving. In that time, many will fall to their knees and ask Jesus to become the Savior of their lives. Others will turn their hearts coldly away from Him. As much emphasis as we put on this life, we are here for one purpose. That purpose is to make a decision of who we will serve. The Bible tells us that a man cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
So in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake, know that we serve a loving God, and even that earthquake was an example of His love. God is love and He cannot contradict His own character. Pray for the families, come alongside the survivors and thank God for His mighty plan we are not always meant to understand.
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