Help from Hurricane Helene

When meteorologists warned the southeast of the coming hurricane/tropical storm, I don’t think any of us had any idea what a catastrophic storm it would be.

Without power for days, destruction all around, so much so that more than one person has said it looked like a war zone.

Over one hundred people have lost their lives, 600 people are missing, and many have lost all their physical possessions.

The amount of work and money that will be required to restore and rebuild, let alone the time to recover mentally, is unimaginable.

How do we respond?

How should Christians think about such devastation?

What do we think about God in all of this?

These are important questions, questions that I am sure all of us have either asked ourselves or have had others ask us.

I hope to provide some answers, some talking points, if you will, on how Christians should respond to such heartbreaking devastation.

My prayerful goal is that it could be said of we, as a church, “Naked we came from our mothers’ womb, and naked we shall return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh.”

I. Is it because of sin? (John 9:1–5)

When disasters strike, one of our first responses is, “I wonder what he did?”

On a national level, our country has given God one reason after another to invite, and indeed, beg for God’s judgment.

Both political parties are seeking to allow the taking of innocent life in the womb. Both political parties are in favor of gay marriage.

Our news organizations and media companies spew trash and filth and call it “entertainment.”

Churches, “pillars and buttresses of the truth” as Paul calls them in 1 Timothy 3:15, are not preaching the whole counsel of God and instead celebrating pride month and transgender ideology.

Our nation is the epitome of Psalm 2:1–3 “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.””

It makes sense, then, that one of the questions we ask is, Is this disaster because of sin?

But we learn an important lesson from the Lord Jesus in John chapter 9. Erroneously the disciples asked Jesus, who sinned. Jesus tells them no one sinned, God caused the man to be born blind in order that “the works of God might be manifested in him.”

God‘s works are being manifested through the disaster relief efforts of Southern Baptist churches all over our nation.

God’s works are being manifested by churches opening up their facilities, cooking meals, or coordinating relief efforts.

God’s works are being manifested by individual believers offering help to fellow church members and those in the community.

We must be careful not to blame immediately sin for the cause of disasters.

II. Are we not all sinners? (Luke 13:1–5; Lamentations 3:37–42)

Although it is true that sin is not always the cause of disasters, we can be reminder of all of our states of sinfulness.

In another interaction with his disciples, some people were talking to Jesus about a terrible injustice committed by Pilate. Perhaps they were asking Jesus his thoughts, implying that those murdered were truly evil and got what they deserved.

Either way, Jesus takes this opportunity to teach them about the universality of sin. There is something worse than natural or man made disaster: judgment from God.

These events provide an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with the Lord. There are churches filled with people who, on the outside, upright people. They go to church regularly, give regularly, and maybe even serve in key positions of the church, but have never repented of their sins who will likewise perish.

How is your relationship with God? Have you repented and believed the Gospel?

Jeremiah’s words are worthy of our prayerful contemplation, Lamentations 3:40–42 “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.”

Although sins may not be the primary cause for suffering and devastation, it affords us an opportunity to reflect prayerfully on our relationship with God.

Furthermore, it opens the door for us to discuss the states of people’s souls.

Is this disaster because of sins? Whether it is or is not is known to God. We all are, however, sinners before the Lord, and disasters provide us with a natural impetus to reflect prayerfully upon our relationship to God.

I propose one further question we all must ask ourselves.

III. Are we blessing God’s name in every circumstance? (Job 1:13–22; Psalm 27:1–6; Psalm 73:25; Philippians 3:7–11)

After losing everything but his wife and physical health, Job, in great faith, responds in this way:

Job 1:20–22 ESV

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Are we blessing God in the midst of this disaster? Although we face loss on several fronts, are we bowing down in worship to the Lord?

Have you ever wondered how Job could do this? I always did. But the reason Job could respond this way is because Job had a completely different value system than we do.

Job realized that His greatest Treasure, the triune God Himself, could never be taken away. In fact, not only could this God not be taken away, He was infinitely greater than any earthly possession, comfort, or even person.

For example, David, in the midst of devastation, says this in Psalm 27:1–6 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.”

Asaph comes to a similar conclusion, albeit from a different type of disaster, in Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”

Here we have two old covenant believers who, by faith, looked to God as their God, regardless of their present circumstances in the midst of disasters.

But what about a New covenant believer? What about Paul? Paul considers not only the disasters of life, but even the good things in life, as loss when compared to knowing God.

Philippians 3:7–11 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

The only way to proclaim, “Blessed be the name of the LORD!” In the midst of a disaster is to know and grow in that knowledge of God.

How do we respond?

How should Christians think about such devastation?

What do we think about God in all of this?

In a sense, the first two questions (is it because of sin and aren’t we all sinners) we have asked could be answered in the affirmative. It could be because of sins and for God’s glory. It is the last question that is answered only by you.

Are you blessing the name of the Lord in the midst of disasters? Do you count all things, both gain and loss, as less than nothing when compared to knowing God?

Job 1:20–22 “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”