Haiti—“Why, God?”

Among the most difficult aspects of human existence for man to harmonize with the existence of God are the various, seemingly capricious, acts of destruction and woe that befall apparently innocent people. A devastating earthquake arbitrarily hits an island; thousands die. Why would God allow such a thing? A variety of skeptics always materialize following such an event, denouncing the cruelty, fickleness, apathy, or helplessness of a supposedly benevolent Deity. Their inability to harmonize such happenings, in their own mind, with their own concept of God (not the Biblical description) is a good excuse to reject Him and to live the iniquitous life they desire, and intended to live in the first place. Humans will always find an excuse to disobey God if that is what they wish to do. A natural disaster killing people is simply one of those excuses which suits some people’s fancy.

I make no pretence to be able to explain to everyone’s—or perhaps anyone’s—satisfaction every instance of disaster, violence, or wickedness of man in which others suffer through no fault of their own. Why did the earthquake hit Haiti? For what purpose did God permit such? I have no idea. The mind of God is His and His actions are His own and He hasn’t explained His every operation to me. But let us consider a few things God has told us which I believe help, in part, to account for the seemingly unaccountable.

When man sinned (Genesis 3), God cursed the earth—man would have to live by the sweat of his brow. And, indeed, even before the fall, during the miraculous creation, God established natural laws to rule His universe; only now, after sin, those natural laws include a dying, deteriorating earth (Romans 8:22). And that means natural disasters. Yes, God could intervene and prevent earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, Hitlers, etc. etc. But then, what would be the purpose of natural law? There would be no such thing if God continually interrupted anytime something happened that some human somewhere didn’t like—you talk about capricious; there’s the perfect definition of it. No, we live in a world now governed by laws God established—and just as man grows old and dies as our bodies become subject to various breakdowns, even so the world is the same. Humans get cancer and have heart attacks because our flesh corrupts naturally. The earth, due to natural disintegration, is plagued with earthquakes, tornados, etc. This is the result of a now imperfect man existing in a now imperfect world.

And part of fleshly corruption is death. It is absolutely essential—crucial—for us to understand that, after the fall, God never intended for this earth to be man’s eternal home. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). We all have an inescapable appointment with death—and we know not the day, hour—or means—that event will take place. One of the major problems man has is viewing his existence from an earthly perspective, rather than a heavenly one. While God is not unconcerned with our lives on this earth, He is far more concerned with our lives after this earth. Humans will be in this world, in the flesh, at best, for a few decades; what is that compared to the spirit’s eternity? Which is the true reality here? We place so much emphasis on this world. Jesus came to try to focus our minds on the next one. Something will happen, some time—be it earthquake, heart attack, war, or other means—which will end our earthly being. Preparation for the eternal one is far more important than anything else we can do here.

The great lesson we must learn from Haiti is just this—the brevity of life and the abruptness—and surety—of death. We are not promised another day; indeed, we are not promised the end of this one. What happened in Haiti could happen anywhere, including where you live. How long we live is not as important as how we live—i.e., in readiness for the judgment, for that time when we will no longer be on this earth. And since we do not know the day of departure—it could be imminent, it might not be for decades—it behooves us to always be prepared. Those in Haiti who were prepared to meet God are in a much better condition now. Those who weren’t prepared to meet Him must suffer the consequences of their own failure to pay attention to His Word and the lessons of this life—lessons such as the possibility of a natural disaster killing them at any moment. If we don’t pay attention to what God is trying to teach, that isn’t His fault. If He warns, and we ignore, who’s to blame?

The Bible speaks of other rationales for earthquakes, etc., but I won’t go into them here. I believe the above is sufficient to give a general accounting and perspective of our earthly existence. As noted, I cannot begin to explain God’s rationale for every instance of natural disaster, such as what happened in Haiti. But I can understand--at least partly--the world as God created it, and as it has become, and man’s purpose during his pilgrimage while here. And that purpose does not include abiding here forever. We must be ready, at all times, for an event—death—that is sure to happen, but of which the exact time, place, and means is unknown to us. If God granted to every human being, with certainty, say, 80 years of life; if we knew we were going to live that long, then what would most of us do? We would eat, drink, and be merry, wait until we were 79, and then make our arrangements for the judgment. Uh uh. That ain’t the way it works, folks, that ain’t the way God intended it. And He told us so. It’s your own fault, reader, if you don’t pay attention to Him.