Most Christians appear confused whenever God’s almighty power is questioned. Most of us have no right answer to give to the person asking the question. The reason why God’s power is questioned is often because even with his might and love for humans, we still witness disasters and evil on earth. Therefore, people ask why God has to let the disasters occur where people die yet he has control over all. The purpose of this paper is to find a solution to this question. The research is intended to bring an understanding of God’s power and provide me with a supported answer to the question. My intention is to find a theological understanding of God’s power supported by biblical scriptures. In my understanding, God is almighty. But this does not provide me with the answers to the question. The purpose of the paper is to engage my understanding and theological discussions of the question in order to find a meaningful answer. I intend to find Bible readings that explain God’s work, and that may provide an understanding of God’s reasoning.
Why does God allow disaster to befall human beings? It is very difficult for humans to understand the will of God and the reason why he does things his way. People often resort to thinking that God may not be as powerful as people believe he is. Others resort to thinking that God is not as loving as people think he is. They often believe that is God is so mighty but still allow the disasters to occur then He is not as fond as people think. But the truth to their statement can be evaluated using theological thinking and biblical scriptures that will provide more insight into the power of God. The fact that God is all-knowing eliminates the idea that the disasters could occur without His knowledge. The fact that God is omnipresent also dismisses the idea that He may not know whether people suffer when the disasters strike. This means that a more theological reasoning is required to answer the question as to why God allows the evil and disaster to occur.
In 1 Isaiah 55:8-9, the Lord declares that the thoughts of human beings cannot in any way be compared to His thoughts. God also points to Isaiah that the ways in which God does his work cannot be the same as the way human beings do theirs. According to Ryan Nelson (1), this is the biggest reason why God allows the disasters to strike humans. God does his work in different ways and for different reasons that are only understandable to him. There is no possible way that God can be answerable to anybody. This means that He does not find a possible course to do anything for reasons humans can understand. Therefore, the reason why human beings cannot understand why disasters strike them is that they can never reason like God, and God can never reason like them, (Bridges 21). It means that for a human being to understand the reason why disasters strike, they would have to reason like God. This is an impossibility which means that human beings will never understand why God allows the disasters to occur and they should stop attempting to find out because it is not possible to fathom. God tells Isaiah that “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” 1 Isaiah 55:8-9. This means that Gods reasoning is impossible for a human being to fathom.
The reason why human beings can never understand Gods thinking is that God is holy and they are not. Another reason is that God is great and mighty, His understanding is limitless, Psalms 147:5. This explains why the Lord God Almighty is not in the level of human beings. If at all God is at a different level of understanding and that He is Holy, the reason why He allows disaster to strike is beyond the understanding of sinful humans. Humans see the situation as lack of power or lack of love from God when disaster strikes. However, God may be seeing it in a very different way and understanding. God understands the necessity of the disaster in a way that humans cannot. This is the transcendent aspect of God’s nature which explains why God is higher that humans and his reasoning and understanding are better or higher.
Human beings only understand the immanent nature of God which explains God’s intimate presence in human life. That is the reason why humans think of why God does things in certain ways. However, God does things for other reasons that may also be reasonable to humans but may not be reason enough for people to accept. For example, God put Job through struggles of life because He wanted him to be an example of what real faith in God is like, Job 11:7-11. Had God not put Job through all the terrible things, then the book of Job would not be available to Christians. God also allows disaster as a method of punishment of sin. When people sinned against God, He used water (as the story of Noah describes) to punish them. God uses disaster to punish people for sin that may not seem reasonable to humans. This means that God allows the disasters to strike because he loves people, Hebrews 12:6. This means that God has to punish people as a means of discipline to those he loves. Another reason could be that God doesn’t want to stop disaster, not because He is powerless but because He opts not to. This could be because He has other plans of showing his power to the people by saving them from the disaster, (Stearns 17). Christ was crucified because God wanted Him to be sacrificed for a greater good, Act 4:27-28. This means that God opts not to stop evil or disaster for the greater good in His future plans, (Slick 1).
Nelson explains that, instead of asking why God does things in a given way, we should be asking what He wants us to get or understand from His action. This is because He does everything for a reason. God has a plan for all of us and is not answerable to anyone. The way He chooses to run the plans He has for us is his own decision to make and we do not have a right to question it. God created Human beings by his power the same way He created earth. Therefore, whatever He decides to do with his us is His right because we are his properties. The earth belongs to Him and so does that thing He destroys with disaster. It is all according to his will. Responding to the question, the best answer to explain why God allows disaster to occur is because His understanding is beyond ours and we cannot understand why he does so. We cannot understand the plans He intends to accomplish with the disaster, (Bridges 21). Therefore, we should not know why He allowed the disaster to occur.
Conclusion
On a personal note, reflecting on the research that has been done for this paper I have learned that God is God, and he does not have to explain his actions to anyone. As humankind, we will never truly understand God in his totality or his reasoning for doing many of the things he does in the world. I believe that the topic of natural disasters is one of the subjects that we will never fully grasp theologically on why certain parts of the world get affected more than others. As much as we want to get upset with God and demand explanations from him for allowing a disaster to happen, the reality is that God does not owe us any explanation for the things he does or allows.
Why did God allow Hurricane Katrina to happen in New Orleans, why did he allow the earthquakes to occur in Haiti and in Japan the truth is that we may never know. But one thing that I have learned by researching this paper is that everything God does or allows to happen, he does with a purpose and with the benefit of humankind in mind. God is generous and loving, the trials that he permits in our lives, he permits them not so that we can be in pain and suffering but so that we can grow and become closer to him. It is through challenges that we grow as people and as Christians. We need to challenge ourselves to grow with God and God challenges us to grow with him as well.
Researching this topic has helped me answer some questions that I have had for a while as a Christian, and it has enabled me to provide a proper theological response for the many people that have asked me about this topic in the past and for the ones the will ask me in the future. In the midst of all kinds of disaster that happen in the world, I am surer now than I have ever been that God is always in control, he is all powerful, all knowing, and all good. All the things that God does have always been and will always be for the good of his children.
Work Cited:
Nelson, Ryan. "8 Bible Verses on Our Awesome God." Faithlife Blog (2014): 1. 26 April 2016. <https://blog.faithlife.com/blog/2014/09/8-bible-verses-about-how-big-god-is/>.
Slick, Matt. "If God is all-powerful and loving, why is there suffering in the world?" Christian Apologetic and Research Ministry (n.d.). 26 April 2016. <https://carm.org/if-god-all-powerful-and-loving-why-there-suffering-world>.
Stearns, Richard. The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2014.
Bridges, Jerry. Trusting God: Even when life hurts. Tyndale House, 2014.
