(Mike and Leslie’s Web Page)

“Is God trying to get thru to us?”

The following was posted on 9/28/2004, in reply to a post from someone saying that disasters were God trying to get through to us.

Hi,

You said, "We need to listen and repent."

How many non-Christian people "get the message" during calamities that "they need to listen and repent"? Wouldn't God make it obvious that the disaster was a message from Him?

What I ask here is not a negative reflection on what you have had to say, rather it is a sincere question many have - including myself.

Were the calamities happening to Job, God saying something to him? Did he need to figure out the message and repent?

If rain can bring blessing AND destructive floods, and the word said it falls on the righteous and unrighteous (Matt 5:45), can the destructive flood in the Christian's life only indicate they have a problem and need to repent?

I tend to agree that mounting calamities would SEEM to indicate the beginnings of judgments upon the earth, upon the USA, the fires in California upon California, etc.

I also realize there are many Yahveh loving, Jesus serving, Godly people in Hurricane ravished Florida, in ash covered (1980) Eastern Washington, in fire ravished neighborhoods in California, in tornado alley of the south and central USA, etc. - Christ loving followers of Jesus that are hurt in the calamities along with everyone else. Does this indicate that they too need to find God's message for them in the disaster and repent?

When I lost my job; when Leslie and I were in the devastating accident following the job loss; when we lost most everything because of these two incidents, we quickly asked the Lord if we brought the events upon ourselves by not being in the right place with Jesus. We found no "sinful" area that would bring calamity into our lives. We concluded, "life happens" (the rain falls) on everyone - Christian and non-Christian alike.

We don't understand all this in the context of the Old Testament passages indicating God's judgment upon those not walking with Him, and His blessings upon those walking with Him. We all tend to ask, "Why Lord don't I see your blessings in our/my life during this time of rain and flood?" "Why, when I'm walking with you, am I finding disaster in my life?"

I tend to agree with the scripture someone posted recently that said we are to walk humbly with our God. (Mic 6:8) We do not understand why things happen to us. We don't always see that the events in our lives reflect upon some harsh message from God; a message that we are to figure out and then eventually end up repenting of the dastardly deeds causing for God's harshness.

Why aren't the peoples of northern Europe, and Brazil, who are reportedly walking in a quagmire of sex, drugs, and anti-Christ attitudes, receiving calamities as we are. Is the answer that "Judgment starts first at the house of God"? Could this be too simplistic of an answer?

The preacher ministering at a funeral is hard pressed to find God given comforting words. He breaths a sigh of relief when asked to minister at the funeral of a Christian that has Christian friends and family. Why? Because, he is looked at as someone responsible to make sense of a very difficult time in someone else's life. When looking at disasters in other's (the USA, California, the mid-West, the world) lives, we are in much the same place as the preacher - explaining the "maybe" impossible to explain.