Home > Why Does God Allow Disasters?

Why does God allow disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, accidents and untimely deaths, diseases and violent weather? Is He not in control of things on this earth? Does He not love His creation? These questions have puzzled people throughout all ages. Are there answers?

Although God is ultimately in control, He allows and sometimes even causes unpleasant things to happen to man ever since the first man decided to take upon himself the knowledge of good and evil, rather than fully trusting in his creator. (Genesis 3)

We must realize that the angel Lucifer, who became Satan or the adversary, was given charge of the earth long before the first humans were created. He is still in charge and can do anything he pleases so far as God allows or does not prevent him. His main objective since man came on the scene is to destroy mankind because he knows that man is a special creation, destined to live forever and to be the very family of God, which Satan and the angels can never be.

It is because of sin that we have disasters; the sin of fallen angels and the sin of mankind. Not that those upon whom disaster falls are greater sinners, but sin in general. Most people throughout the ages, and their belief systems, attempt to take upon themselves the knowledge of good and evil. This is the sin of the world. When the first man sinned, God already had a plan in place to redeem him from the effect of sin, which is eternal death. Satan hates this plan and has done everything in his power to thwart the plan, even attempting to destroy Jesus Christ, when He came to earth to qualify to become the redeemer.

God loves man so much that He will do anything to save him. We can see only short term but God looks at the overall picture. Just like a good parent who will punish a small child for doing wrong things or restrict him from doing things that will hurt him, so God deals with us. We don’t understand at the time why we must suffer and that hardship is for our ultimate good. James tells us to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith develops patience." (James 1)

God made certain promises to our forefathers as they were led out of Egypt and headed toward the promised land. "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and do that which is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you." (Exodus 16:26) Even after all the miracles they experienced, they did not trust and obey God, so were doomed to spend forty years roaming the desert, not a pleasant situation. We also have an unpleasant situation today.

If, as a nation, we would diligently obey and serve the creator God, He would protect and bless us; He would fight our wars, cure our diseases, give us abundance of food and all good things, good weather always, and allow us to enjoy and benefit from the works of our hands. Instead, we have decided to trust in man with his government, religious, economic, medical and educational systems. The result is chaos and unrest continually. Think of the enormous expense of time and resources for defense and disease control alone, with no end or improvement in sight. The tremendous blessings the Israelite nations have experienced the past few hundred years are not the result of our goodness, but because of promises made by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, our ancestors. The time of these blessings has ended. We are on our own. We have allowed Satan and his human agents to be in control of our lives.

God is trying to get our attention by allowing disasters, wars and strife; yes even causing them to happen sometimes. He has caused or allowed our perpetual enemies, the sons of Ishmael, to come against us in the form of terrorist attacks, to punish us; then causes us to war against them to punish them. We punish ourselves and each other, because we will not believe, trust and obey God.

Our only consolation is the knowledge that Jesus Christ will return to this earth as He promised. (Acts 1) The Bible is full of prophecies about these end times leading up to the return of Christ and His one thousand year reign on earth with the resurrected saints. We can know and understand these prophecies, contrary to what many religious leaders would have you believe. Our greatest hope is the knowledge that everyone who has ever lived will have an opportunity to know and follow the true God of creation and be given a chance for salvation and eternal life. The trials and difficulties we endure today are but a pittance compared to the hope of eternal life. We will see no end to wars and disasters until Christ returns and takes to Himself the kingdoms of this world and binds Satan. That time is coming soon, possibly in our lifetime. It is not too late to turn from the ways of this world and accept and follow Jesus Christ and His commandments as the only hope of our salvation and peace.

by: Bill Luecke

This article appeared in
The Hays Daily News on October 29, 2004.