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-5-
The God Who Is
Lord of Calamity
God brings calamities. He may bring them as a judgment upon people on account of their sin, but at other times, He designs them to teach us the importance of things, that happiness does not depend upon what a man possesses, that life is more important than possessions, that we are dependent upon the Lord and therefore we must not trust in uncertain riches, and that we may realize our limitations. In the words of George Duffield,
The arm of flesh will fail you,
Ye dare not trust your own.
Neither the tornado nor the hurricane can do more than God has designed. So the hymn writer has written,
Correct us with Thy judgments, Lord,
Then let Thy mercy spare.
But why does God afflict one family and spare another? Why is it so often true that the wicked prosper while godly people are cast down? The Psalmist says, "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain... When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end" (See Psalm 73:12-17). God is good in what He does.
His care in times past Forbids us to think He'll leave us at last In trouble to sink.
Sometimes the Lord sends disasters as a warning to prepare people for an even greater disaster. God may send several tremors before a great earthquake. At other times, God may trouble some in order to call other people to repent and to turn from their sins. So He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, "making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly" (II Peter 2:6). But very often God uses calamities as a means to call people to turn from their sins.
In Amos chapter 4, the prophet reproves Israel for her sins. Beginning in verse 6, Amos says that it is the Lord who has sent Israel "cleanness of teeth" in all their cities, and "want of bread" in all their places. And here the Lord grieves, "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD." Note here that the Lord declares that it is He who has sent the people famine, and that He has done it for the purpose of calling them to repent.
Note again, that it is the Lord who sent the famine, and not the Devil. Modern religion is rife with dualism. How many people think that everything they deem to be good, God is the doer of it; and everything they deem to be evil, the Devil is the doer of it. This, however, is not what the Bible teaches.
God sent famine, and then, because Israel did not repent, God says, "`I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me,' saith the LORD". (verses 7,8)
When the people of Israel refused to repent, the Lord says, "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew," i.e. with fungi. In our day, instead of looking to the Lord and addressing the reason for such a problem, we use fungicides and thereby poison our soil, our crops and ourselves.
The prophet Amos continues his record of how that the Lord persisted in chiding Israel for her stubbornness. "When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them," i.e. insects destroyed them. In our day we would rather use insecticides and again poison our soil, our crops, and ourselves instead of turning to Him who is Lord even over the insects.
The Lord sent famine; but Israel did not repent. He withheld the rain; yet she did not repent. He sent blasting and mildew, and then insects, and still Israel did not repent. So, the Lord bore down and sent disease and war. "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD" (Amos 4:10).
Note, that it is the Lord who sent Israel disease, and not the Devil. There is great comfort in knowing that God is the Lord of disease. He is the ruler and controller of it. He is Lord over blight and Ruler of the insects. He is Lord of the rain, regulating its abundance, and it is He who withholds it. He provides the supply of food, and it is He who brings about the lack of it. This is the reason we pray,
Give us this day Our daily bread
See how in the midst of suffering divine judgments Israel did not repent. Such is the heart of man. It is sometimes thought that if the people in Hell were given another chance to repent, they would do it without a doubt. This is to think carnally; for the Bible says that in the torments of Hell, people will curse God forever. So, in the book of Revelation, chapter 16, and in verse 18, we read there is coming an earthquake that will level mountains and move the islands of the sea, yet the people of earth will not repent but will continue to curse God who is good.