God weeps with us

  I suspect that most of us have been both shocked and moved as we have seen the aftermath of Cyclone Nagis and the Chinese Earthquake on our TV screens and in our newspapers.  The sheer scale of devastation and the huge number of human lives lost are almost beyond our comprehension.  The area affected by the earthquake alone is equal to that of a country the size of Belgium.
 
  The reluctance of the Burmese government to accept outside help, as we see pictures of the dead, dying and homeless, has baffled and horrified us.

  We have to thank God for all those who have and will put in a huge effort to bring help to those in need.  Those needs will, of course, go on for a very long time, with whole towns needing to be rebuilt and communities having to come to terms with a missing generation of young people, lost in these disasters.

It is at times like these that some find the need to ask: 'where is God in all of this?'

What should be our understanding of such disasters?

  First, they are a powerful and painful reminder of the weakness of humanity.  We cannot control the natural world that God has made.  We have to find ways of living within its complexity.  We still have so much to learn about the earth and how it works.  So much is still a mystery that we cannot predict or control all natural disasters (see Job 38 - 41).  We have to learn to live with this tension.

  Second, they remind us that all of life is fragile and, whether we live in Europe or in Asia, we are part of the family of God.  As such, we share in each other's suffering and we are called to share in our responsibility to help one another in moments of crisis.  So we thank God for all those aid agencies at work - and pledge to them our support.

  Third, they remind us of our dependence upon God for strength, patience and endurance.  As disaster strikes, we are taken to the very limits of our spiritual and emotional endurance.  We cannot get through these situations alone and we hear the voice of the psalmist, who writes: 'I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth’ (Ps 121: 1-2 NIV)

  We do not face the tragedies of life alone.  God weeps with us.  He shows his love to us through those who work to bring comfort and aid and he promises that he will make all things new.

In the face of disaster, our temptation is to turn way from God in anger and distress while, in fact, God is reaching out to offer comfort and peace, love and energy to those willing to receive it.

 by Graham Clarke.