An Earthquake - sent by God?

Many people will know that Christchurch has recently experienced a major earthquake; causing a lot of damage to older buildings, some roads and a few newer homes. Overall we escaped very lightly. There was no lose of life and only a small part of the city was damaged.

What I would like to look at is how to see this as people of Faith. How much is God involved in this, what should our response be to tragedies like these?

The usual response from Christians, after something like an earthquake when they escape injury or death is to 'praise God' for 'saving' them or 'protecting' them. We see God as proactively stepping in looking after us, keeping us from danger. This attitude is so prevalent in Old Testament, God intervening in human history; bringing judgment down on sinful people, rescuing those he wanted to. Natural disasters were the responsibility of God, if you got killed then you were most probably doing something wrong. However God also seemed to spare people even when they disobeyed him; David is a key example of this. He lusted, wanted, committed adultery, lied, killed and got caught out, then confessed.

So we see different reactions on Gods part. He used disasters to bring judgement down on people but he saved people even though they sinned, their 'salvation' had nothing to do with their actions. Sometimes when God took action it was instantaneous, like the giving of the 10 commandments and the disobedience of the people. God judged them at the moment but he gave the nation of Israel and Judah repeated warnings before allowing them to be taken into captivity.

The greatest example of God stepping into human time is when he became a baby and lived on this earth as Jesus. Does this mean that from that point on God has stopped using disasters to punish us directly, because Jesus has taken on all the anger and judgment of God?

Now I also know that when sin entered this world it not only infested humans but also corrupted this world. The earthquakes are part of that 'groaning' of the world, it is the 'natural' consequence of our sin (Gen. 3:17).

So let us come back to the question of God's involvement in this world.I should however state some foundations of my belief; I do believe in a personal God who created this world and has revealed Himself through Jesus. Our God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God. He is both imminent and transcendent, he is Love in it's fullest sense.

If we say that we are 'most blessed' because God has saved us from harm through this earthquake, if we believe that God heard our prayers and kept us from danger; then what does that say to the people of Haiti or Chile or Pakistan or China? Does that mean that those people who lost life in these other countries were not so 'blessed' of God that God didn't judge them to be so worthy? This is my problem and it arises every time there is a car accident or some other tragedy. Has God actually protected us and not the other person (Matthew 5:45)?

Could it be something like this: God has created this world, he has set in motion certain laws and he has allowed sin to corrupt this world. There are consequences to sin and death is the major one. Natural disasters are also part of the consequences (Rom. 8:19). God is not standing over us and manipulating the earth so that certain people are killed and others live as a rule. I wonder if he just lets things take their natural course. Now I should add here that I do believe that God does sometimes protect people for a special reason and that he does sometimes interrupt the natural order of things to accomplish his purposes but these are exceptions more that the norm. Are we not also to blame for natural disasters or their severity; we build on unstable land, we strip land of trees, and we pollute our rivers and air.

So we were not more blessed than Haiti in the eyes of God with our earthquake, we were not more important than the people of Pakistan to God. No we were saved because we have a higher level of educated people, we have implemented better rules for building and we have a less corrupt government that keeps the rules for everyone. We were more fortunate to have fewer people packed into our city and they don't live in a high density area. We had an efficient Civil defence programme that worked pretty well.

Can we thank God for being alive? Yes we can because God loves us and he has work for us to do now. Perhaps disasters should challenge our perspective on life and eternity and join Paul when he said "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Rom 14:8.

This is not my full and final thoughts on this subject, I am open for others to share their thoughts. This is really just my questions set out to help me make some sense of all this.