We have been reminded yet again that we live in a creation which has been cursed (Rom.8:19-25). The devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April (2015) has had a sobering effect on us all as we have witnessed from afar first the loss of 8,000 lives, then a series of aftershocks, then a second earthquake which took another 80 lives, and finally the struggles that the surviving people have with getting enough food and uncontaminated water, living in proper shelter when buildings are unsafe, and coping with the threat of disease. In the eighth century B.C. there was such a tremendous earthquake (Amos 1:1) that it was still remembered over two hundred years later (Zech.14:5). When the two witnesses of Revelation 11 are brought back to life and taken up to heaven, the second woe comes to a conclusion: ‘And at that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven’ (Rev.11:13). More than most other ‘natural disasters’, earthquakes remind us of the puniness of humanity and the power of God.
Since God is sovereign, we must acknowledge that earthquakes – like droughts and flooding rains – come from God. As Calvin puts it: ‘it is certain that not one drop of rain falls without God’s sure command’. God is not just in control of the good things of life but all things. Not even something as apparently insignificant as a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from our Father’s will (Matt.10:29). If there is a calamity in a city, the Lord has done it (Amos 3:6). He is the one who says: ‘I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things’ (Isa.45:7). Hence we are to accept adversity as from the hand of God (Job 2:10), and even rejoice in it (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
Knowing that the earthquake comes from God does not, however, mean that we can easily fathom the depths as to why God brought this about. Jesus tells us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who persecute us. Why should we do this? Because that is a reflection of God’s love to all: ‘He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Matt.5:45). The same can be said about earthquakes.
We human beings invariably want to know more than is revealed, and are especially tempted to believe that we can read the providences, either in favour or against the afflicted. As the old Negro Ditty puts it:
The rain it raineth every day,
Upon the just and unjust fella.
But mostly ‘pon the just because
The unjust stole the just’s umbrella.
In truth, we just cannot know for certain why God sent Nepal such a destructive earthquake.
This leads us to our response to this great tragedy. The first response is to recognise that it is only through the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed (Lam.3:22). Why God afflicted Nepal in this way we cannot know for certain, but it is His will. His will for tomorrow could be something similar in our own backyard. We are to recognise that it is only by His sovereign and gracious will that we take our next breath. All disasters are to remind us that judgment is coming, and we need to be ready for it (Luke 13:1-5).
Secondly, we are to recognise that in the midst of this tragedy and disaster, God’s purposes for His people are for good (Gen.50:20; Rom.8:28). Alexander Carson tells us what the Bible tells us, that ‘The Lord does not put his people to trial without necessity’ (see Lam.3:33). This will require faith in God which is not blind to what has happened, but which sees that the good God of the Bible is at work in all things, not just the obviously good things. God works in strange ways at times. As the quadriplegic, Joni Eareckson-Tada found: ‘God is never closer than when your heart is aching.’
Thirdly, we are to love our neighbours as ourselves. There is to be a special love for the household of faith (Gal.6:10), but a deep concern for all in the midst of these great trials. In the end, amidst sorrows and bewilderment, may we all know what Spurgeon knew: ‘I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.’
Peter Barnes