God # 4

Question: If God is a God of mercy and love, and if He is the Director of the universe, why does He send earthquakes, tidal waves, and other phenomena when thousands of lives are lost almost instantly through them?

Because He sees fit to do so. If God saw fit, He would have a perfect right to plunge the whole earth beneath a flood and leave us all to perish instantly. All men have sinned. All men deserve the wrath of God. But God loves even a sinful and apostate race, and He has provided a way of pardon for all who will accept it - and not only a way of pardon but also a way by which we may become sons of God and heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17). If anyone who accepts this way of pardon is swept away by an earthquake, tidal wave, or other disaster, he loses nothing. He departs to "be with Christ, which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). If anyone does not accept this way of pardon, he is utterly wicked and ungrateful. His being swept away by an earthquake, tidal wave, or other phenomenon is far less than he deserves and far less than he will receive in the Judgment that awaits him in the world to come - not merely for his sins but also for the black ingratitude of his trampling underfoot the mercy of God that has been so marvelously manifested (Hebrews 10:29).

In our day, men have largely forgotten that God is God, and they think that He is under an obligation to explain His dealings to us. God's ways are not our ways, and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. But as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:89). His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways are beyond finding out (Romans 11:33). But when we reach the other side and no longer "see through a glass, darkly; but ... face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12), then we will understand that the providences of God that were the most difficult for us to comprehend in this present life were full of mercy and kindness to man. What we all need to learn now is that God in His infinite wisdom, may have a thousand good reasons for doing something when we, in our finite ignorance, cannot see even one reason for it.

Question: If God exercises general governance and control over the entire universe, how do you explain the apparent dominance of sin?

It is only on this earth that sin is apparently dominant, and this earth is a very small portion of the universe. Furthermore, God's plans are eternal and will take eternity for their full working out. The apparent dominance of sin is only temporary. Through permitting it t the present time, God is working out His own plans of good. When these plans are worked out, we will see how the controlling power of God was all time behind man's failures, rebellions, and sin. Indeed, we can see it to a large degree even at the present time.

~R. A. Torrey~