God and Tragedy

Last Saturday 7 February went down in the Australian history not only as the hottest day on record, but also the darkest day. As of this very minute, 108 people dead and 750 homes and two towns wiped out. It is a national tragedy. The full coverage is here.

Let us pray for those who mourn the lost of their loved ones. We pray that "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your [their] hearts and your [their] minds in Christ Jesus."

The Scots' Church family retreat to be held in Maryville, one of the severely affected towns, had to be cancelled as the camp site was burnt down. Interstate reinforcement have descended in Victoria to help identify victims as I write these words.

The temperature shows 46.5 degrees in the city, and up to more than 47 degrees in a few towns. It was also very windy. When I opened the window, the wind felt like the desert wind, the kind typically blew in Las Vegas desert. What was truly remarkable on that day was that the 46 plus degree temperature dropped to 20 degrees in a matter of hours. In fact, the Bureau of Metereology reported that the temperature dropped about 10 degrees in less than 15 minutes. In a nutshell, Saturday 12pm was unbearably hot at 46 degree, but Sunday 12pm was rainy and cold at 20 degree.

Imagine two different overseas tourists stopping over in Melbourne only for the day, one on Saturday and the other one on Sunday. They would have had a big disagreement over the weather. "What do you mean it's cold? It was so hot I can boil egg in 3 seconds on top of my head." "You're out of your mind. It was wet and cold I had to put another layer on. So much for a great summer day."

I don't know what good one can deduce out of this tragedy. But I am sure it is not a random, meaningless event brought about by the mother nature who ran amok. God allowed it. God did it for a reason that we would be hard pressed to find out. He is not accountable to us His creation, that's perhaps the most important lesson that Job learned from God when he complained to God about his darkest day in his life. His infinite wisdom is far deeper than ours.

A few things are certain, however.

1. God shows to the people of Australia that He alone is sovereign. He alone is omnipotent. He is the Lord of creation who is capable to control the weather, fire, wind, snow, water, etc. And that other things people hold onto and rely upon are fragile. In fact, those things are idols that cannot give us security on earth, let alone eternal security. God alone deserves our utmost reliance. This perhaps is the most recent national reminder to people of Australia that their lives, without God, have no certainties whatsoever.

2. God shows us that our life is like a vapor, and without God that brevity of life is lived in vain. The ridiculous amount of wealth and asset we amass over the years in the end amount to nothing in the absence of God. Jesus once called a rich man who did the same "Fool!" I was reading these verses this morning, and was reminded of the futility of running after things of this world:

"And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him,'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:19-21)

3. For those who are God's purchased people, His promise in Romans 8:28 applied on Saturday. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." We do not know what good can be drawn out of it, as I wrote above. And I don't want to pretend I know. But I know two things for certain:

a. God does not have to account for what He did or allowed to happened. He didn't have to answer it verbally. But He did not sit around doing nothing. He came in the midst of us, suffered with us emotionally and physically on the cross. Not only He showed solidarity to us human, but through His death and resurrection He gave us hope beyond death. He who experienced first hand the pain we feel as human shows us the way that death is not the ultimate thing. It does not have the final say. Jesus does. And in Him, we have the strength to carry on. In Him, we have hope beyond death.

b. This tragedy, to those whose lives are spared by God to see their loved ones gone, provides the loudest and clearest opportunity for them to acknowledge in the middle of this otherwise unbearable sadness that Christ is enough. Christ in sufficient. In Him alone one finds refuge, solace, and comfort. The happy times we have don't give us that perspective; on the contrary that blurs our devotion between God or Mammon. If we praise God when we get a promotion, pass an exam with flying colors, have a successful surgery, restore a broken relationship, it is easy for us to savor merely the blessings of God, but not God himself. Only difficult times provide the crystal clear opportunity to say with the Asaph

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever"(Psalm 73:25-26).

Photo above courtesy of The Age