Pictures are telling the story… a little girl, bandaged up with a swollen face and blood drooping across her splintered cheeks…bloodied bodies of dead little boys and girls…a body of a woman being pulled out of what appears to be a collapsed house…a man being carried on a wheelbarrow with legs amputated by a falling roof.
Calgary Herald reports that several Canadians have been killed in this earthquake and so have several Americans.
CNN reports that Geo-Physicists are comparing this devastation to the damage several atomic bombs would cause!
All this is as a result of the devastation caused by an earthquake which hit the island nation of Haiti.
Where then was a loving God when all this was happening?
First we must begin with victims: who they are, what is their story, and how they themselves have taken their suffering.
I cannot begin a discussion of this devastation from our own personal perspectives. I was not there.
I have only seen the devastation on TV. And so it is just fair that we look at this devastation from the perspective of the victim.
We must listen to their pain, and their sorrow. We must not theologise or find an explanation.
Our primary duty is to listen. To hear them cry, and complain, and lament.
Without speaking our thoughts or pronouncing our judgments, we need to hear them say what they have experienced, and to hear them talk about the meaning they attach to their suffering.
Let us hear an innocent little girl, who just had a small lunch that day, retires to sleep and suddenly the ground begins shaking and her little shack collapses on her, and cuts her little legs…what has she got to say?
Let us hear a woman in labor, who was just about to give birth, and the shudder of her childbirth was laced with an earthquake…let us listen and feel her fear and consider her heartache.
Let us listen to that man who looks at his crushed family and property, point a finger at heaven and complain bitterly…where was God?
Let us feel for all those 100,000 who have silently died at the earth gave way! That victim of the earthquake is as human as I am.
He is created in the image and likeness of God; that victim may in fact, even belong to the household of faith with me and as such I need to listen to their story!
The Bible answers the problem of evil and suffering from the perspective of the victim.
It never hides the pain of those that are suffering. People who suffer in the Bible have a voice.
They speak their minds. They dialogue with their pain. They complain and lament to God.
They complain to God, and God never shuts them up. As a Christian leader, my duty during these difficult moments is to let the victims speak for themselves, to hear their story.
When Job suffered, he cried, he lamented, and God heard him! When David suffered, he cried and lamented, and God listened to him. When Jesus suffered he cried, and he wept.
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because of the laments he took over the desolation and devastation that his nation faced.
He was very candid in describing the pain he felt about his suffering: I am distressed…I am groaning with pain…there is only death…etc.
He also did not attempt to defend God. He expressed his feelings before the Almighty.
He described how he felt about God honestly. He also expressed trust in God regardless of the challenging situation he had faced.
In Lamentations 3:21—24, he remembers that the LORD’s compassions never fail, even when we are faced with death and devastation. David was also honest with his suffering.
He cries out to God when he is faced with tragedy and death. In Psalm 23 he says the Lord is his shepherd, and he will walk with him even in the valley of the shadow of death.
He latter asks God, why he had been forsaken. He says exactly how he feels.
But where was a loving God? God was still there. He cared for each and every life that is lost.
He cares for each and every child that died that day. But the problem of evil and suffering is a reality of our fallen humanity and an unfortunate part of our universe.
Bad things do happen to good people, and bad things do happen for no good reason at all.
But all these bad things do not negate the presence or the loving nature of God.
At the same time we need to be satisfied that this loving God did permit this calamity to befall us and the people of Haiti. For nothing happens without his permission.
He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. And there must not be a reason for things to happen the way they do.
God may never tell us why he allowed that Earthquake…this is where we balance our perspective of his loving nature and his sovereignty.
God is a sovereign ruler…and so questions we have about why bad things happen will only be answered on the other side of heaven.
But for now we need to listen to the story of pain of His people in Haiti, pray for them and rebuild with them.
We need to do all we could to make their burden lighter. God is still concerned about their welfare and the welfare of all his people.
So whom shall I blame? Most of us would want to find someone to blame for the suffering.
We somehow believe that suffering such as Haiti devastation should have been caused by somebody.
Some blame God, some would blame the devil, and some would blame fate—whatever fate is.
However, as believers we should be satisfied that there are things in this life that we will never adequately know or understand on this side of heaven.
Again, evil is real and it is an unfortunate part of our fallen humanity and our universe.
We should not be on a witch-hunt for the cause of this Haiti catastrophe, but instead we must acknowledge our limitation with total knowledge about its origin.
I will process this pain, by simply acknowledging its reality. I will not try to justify it, or explain it away. It is a real suffering, it is real pain.
As such, I may not know why the earthquake happened, and maybe I do not even need to know.
I am satisfied in my ignorance, but one thing is for sure, I will hurt and mourn and lament with the people of Haiti, and submit my finite mind to God’s infinite wisdom.
In these difficult moments, all I may need to say is “Thank you God for hearing me and for bearing my pain”!
That earthquake happened when there was movement in the plates in the earth’s crust. That is what causes earthquakes. About where God was when all this was happening, He was on his throne seeing to the affairs of th world. Asking if He is loving or not is same as asking why there is a tomorrow. The answer to why there is tomorrow is because God is in control. Simple!
The loving God was where he has always been when the Tutsis were butchered by the Hutus in Rwandans. With all the current mining activity in Zambia and the shanties and building of substandard structures in our cities, we should not blame God if an earthquake strikes Zambia and kills multitudes of people. God is still a good loving God no matter what happens in this world.
Before you blame God,RT(Russia Today) reported on the 20 January 2010 that:
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has once again accused the United States of playing God. But this time it’s Haiti’s disastrous earthquake that he thinks the U.S. was behind. Spanish newspaper ABC quotes Chavez as saying that the U.S. navy launched a weapon capable of inducing a powerful earthquake off the shore of Haiti. He adds that this time it was only a drill and the final target is destroying and taking over Iran.
The report is on on youtube
“Chavez: US weapon test caused Haiti earthquake”
TBC…
..cont #3 If you know how to connect the dots here is another piece of evdence:
April 1997, the then U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen publicly discussed the dangers of HAARP-like technology, saying “others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves… So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations… It’s real, and that’s the reason why we have to intensify our efforts.”
They call it “HAARP” if you want to research.
we should just pass a vote of no confidence in God.
The earth’s crust moved. Period
Amen, it is good to see faith in times of tragedy – now we see as in shadow, then we will see face to face
# 6 Splaka
The forces that helped shaped 21st century are predicated not on facts we learned, but on secrets we discover.
The severity of this devastation is PARTLY due to poor structures in Haiti that were not designed to withstand the Earthquake of that magnitude. Most countries in earthquake prone regions have design codes that are followed strictly when putting up structures. California in States for instance, an area which has been rocked with enormous devastations in the past, is testimony of how Earthquake Engineering has advanced in promoting safe structural designs. The innuendos that God or USA instigated a man made Earthquake are baseless. If this quake was to occur in areas like California, the level of devastation would not match up to what we are seeing in Haiti!
We are in the world but not part of it. calamities and devastations we shall face but our destiny is brighter. The Lord God is ever on his throne…Amen.
Ilyashi lya Haiti earthquake na Lesa lyalashupa…Lets just wait for Jesus Christ he will come and fix everything…I am sure he is concerned too.
Only for statistics: nearly 60,000 Americans perished in 14 years Vietnam War. That’s not even half of the victims killed in 40 seconds of the Haiti Earthquake!
Its seems most of us are very upset with God…
When such things happen, its better to just trust in God than accusing, cursing and questioning him.There are so many bad things that happen i.e both parents dying when kids are still very young..etc
If we keep on accusing God then most of us will go to hell.
Nine Chale. What happened you have changed the photo, the other one was more nice.
Anyone that thinks YHWH or as christians erroneaously call him God is your babysitter is gravely ignorant of scripture. YHWH never said he will protect each and every human being , in actual fact he gives protection IF you live by his rules. It is a bit hypocritical of people ignoring his ways being the very same ones being the first to cry out of lack of love. If you are independent enough to ignore scripture and it’s law then you are independent enough to bear the consequences of that
Is trying to teach them how Power he is-God- because most of those people in Haiti believe in Vodoo’
You do not mix that and God-
🙂 God is ever watching and hurting when people perish. Remember we live in a fallen world. A world that man himself corrupted. We have salvation in Christ so don’t fret. 1984 my brother I am happy you know God because knowledge like yours in the hands of one that is not God’s child is influentially dangerous. Greetings all bloggers and remember that heaven shall have numerous Zambians. With what our leaders have put us through it would be pointless not to fight for a place there, make it even though through the fire.
The simple answer is that man has to take care of himself and worry less about God! why do i say that? Because, there is no evidence of God’s intervening in all of the major problems in the world.
#13 Njovu Kazi I somehow got fed up of staring at my own portrait…forgive me.
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Dnt evolve God in such discussion. How many people died that day? How many where born the world that day? The bible says, evering that happens happen for a purpose. So if u dnt knw the purpose why that happen, God knws. The problem with people, whn things are good, God the there. And whn things are bad God is questiond. Jst praise and thnk Him that u are alive you today.
God did this. The earthquake in Haiti illuminates the true nature of God. Why do people worship this evil wretch?
#22-God did what?Do u think God wud want his precious pipo to perish in that way.U DEVIL WORSHIPER.As a Christian I forgive u as u do not knw wat u r tokin about.Have respect for God.
Ladies and gentlemen, An earthquake is a natural phenomenon which happens in certain areas of the world (there is actually a world earthquake belt).
God has no influence on natural phenomenals as they have to happen, but man can mitigate the outcomes by putting up better infrastructure in earthquake prone areas.
For instance, it does not make sense to pray for rain in Zambia in November or December (as is normally done), because that is the start of the rainy season- a natural phenomenal.