If you're not in the Washington DC area then you might not perceive the timeliness of this question. In the last two weeks our area has been hit with an earthquake and a hurricane. Thankfully neither were as devastating as they could have been, although many did lose property and even some sadly lost their lives.
All of this caused me to reflect on the power of God in a Facebook post last week. "An earthquake and a hurricane in the same week, could God be trying to get our attention?" When I posted the question I didn't think that it would be particularly controversial, but I was wrong.
So then, does God use natural disasters to get our attention? I think the simple answer is that He certainly can.
In Job chapter 1 we read about the way that God allows Satan to test the faith of Job by taking away just about everything that he loved in this world. To do so Satan used a wind to knock over one of his children's houses killing all of his children (Job 1:18-19). He also used an incredible lightning storm (fire from sky) to kill Job's livestock (Job 1:16). The text makes it absolutely clear that these were not freak occurrences, but that they were done with God's permission.
Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by fire and brimstone (Gen 19:24) which while supernatural would have appeared to the people as a natural disaster. The death of Jesus is punctuated with an earthquake which captured the attention of the centurion who proclaimed "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matt 27:54). Another earthquake occurred when the stone was rolled away at the moment of Jesus' resurrection (Matt 28:2). And the earth will quake and the lightning will flash when the wrath of God is poured out on the wickedness of this world (Rev 8:5).
Should every natural disaster be interpreted as a direct attempt of God to get our attention? Not in the way that some people assume a connection between specific natural disasters with specific sinful peoples. That requires a special knowledge of the mind of God that we do not possess.
However every natural disaster is at the very least a reminder that the world that we live in is broken and longing for restoration. Romans 8:19-21 "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
So yes, God does use natural disasters to get our attention. Sometimes He does so very specifically and other times more generally, but they should always remind us of the brokenness of this world and our need for ultimate restoration.
- Aaron
