Disaster, Distress, and Determined Faith

Lessons from the Book of Job

Residents of countries in the Caribbean are picking up the pieces in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. In the US, millions more are doing the same. Seeing these images of devastation and human suffering, we remember other natural disasters in the recent past—hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis. And we wonder.

How can a loving, merciful God allow so much destruction, some people ask. Why did God “let” the hurricane bear down on New Orleans? Why did he “permit” the earthquake that caused tsunamis in Japan and the Indian Ocean? Many who ask these questions believe that God is either too distant to care about what goes on in the world, or that there really is no God at all.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who suggest that God himself was behind these disasters. They hold that such catastrophes are merely God punishing sinful people, taking vengeance upon those who refuse to repent of their transgressions. All of these disasters are signs that the Second Coming is imminent and that the world is about to come to a cataclysmic end.

How, Not…