Meeting God after Disaster

In the aftermath of disaster, people worship. It’s happened in the Philippines after the great Typhoon. And we see it wherever there are believers.

We’d like to think that when disasters strike, churches would be miraculously exempt from damage. After all, they’re God’s houses.

But if they were, I wonder what effect it would have. Would it really make a positive difference? Somehow I think not. I suspect we would start to lean toward a magical take on our beliefs rather than living them out by faith. We would focus on what happened or didn’t happen versus meeting God in the midst of trouble. I also suspect that we would start to gain an entitlement attitude, rather than meet God in the midst of trouble.

Almost all natural disasters are part of the big picture of nature equalizing itself. We call them disasters because we are in the way and get hurt.

I pray God have mercy on those who are suffering.
I pray second that God meet those who are suffering.
And I pray that the more church buildings are beaten down, the more the congregations will rise up–both to meet God and to minister to the communities.

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Photo credit:  LA Times