God in the Whirlwind

There are certain tragic events in life that leave such deep mental footprints on our consciousness that their dates and images remain with us until God calls us home: Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, 2001 known to our contemporary lexicon simply as 9-11. For those of us in central Alabama, April 27, 2011, is now one of those dates that will live in personal infamy. Last evening we watched in abject horror as television images broadcast the genesis of a monster tornado as it swallowed parts of our neighbor city, Tuscaloosa, and headed north on its death march toward Birmingham and beyond. The image of the monster storm and the swath of destruction it cut will remain with us always.

Along with dates and images from such events come the inevitable question that our culture (and unfortunately some in the church) poses: Where was God? After 9-11, I had the opportunity to interact with unbelievers on that question many, many times and we, as followers of Christ, as people of God's Word, must have a ready answer for that question. So where was God last night as the storm streamrolled across our region? God was in the very same place he was on the morning when He crushed His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of His people: sitting on the throne of the universe as a sovereign, all-wise king.  That may seem like something of a pat, simplistic answer to an excruciatingly complex question, but God's absolute, comprehensive, meticulous sovereignty accords with the clear teaching of Scripture. Want proof?

Look at the story of Job. God sends a personal holocaust upon this God-fearing man in which he loses his entire family and a significant fortune in belongings. Yet, when Job's wife tempts him to "curse God and die," God's man answers her, "Shall we receive good from the hand of God and not evil (Hebrew raah, best translaed "evil," typically translated "adversity," which is the gist of the word)" and "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Out of his profound anguish--and not in spite of it--Job worships God and exults in His sovereign prerogative to act in accord with His infinite wisdom.

Look at the story of Jonah. The reluctant prophet flees from the call of God. To reel in His prophet, God ordains a massive typhoon, sends giant fish and of course gets His man at last. It is clear that God controls every single detail, even secondary causes such as storms and fish.

Look at God's use of an arrogant Assyrian nation as a tool of judgment against His own idolotrous people, Israel: "Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against at godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the more of the streets. But he (Assyria) does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; for he says: Are not my commanders all kings?" (Is 10:5-8) Look at the last portion of that passage; Assyria is merely following the depravity of its own heart in attacking Israel, but God uses human evil for His own purposes without being the author of sin. God is sovereign and never compromises his holiness!

Look at what Jesus says about sparrows and our hairs: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matt 10:29-30) Meticulous providence.

Look, most importantly of all, at the cross of Christ, the most evil act in human history, an act by which God redeemed His people: "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." (Acts 2:23) Lawless men carried out what was also the greatest event in human history.

We live in a fallen world that is dangerous and our days are fraught with uncertainty. As the great Jonathan Edwards often pointed out, the ground upon which we stand appears solid, but it is only a mirage. But the glorious news is this: we serve a God Who is utterly in control of all events and all people. Let that truth and the great truth of the Gospel of God in Christ comfort us amid the rubble. May it please God to display the light of His glory against the backdrop of a dark providence in central Alabama.