Floods, Fires, & the Incarnation

A few weeks ago I was watching the Today show after hurricane Irene made her way up the east coast. There was a correspondent in Vermont talking about the flash flooding that destroyed a restaurant next to a river that rose twenty feet in eight hours. In the next story one of the hosts talked with a correspondent in Texas who was close to an area that had been devastated because of wild fires. The correspondent said the drought in Texas was so bad that the slightest spark could start a wild fire. In this case, the fire destroyed around forty homes.

That’s quite a contrast don’t you think? On the one hand, it rained so much in Vermont that it destroyed people’s homes and businesses. On the other hand, it hasn’t rained in so long in parts of Texas that people’s homes and businesses are burning down because of wild fires. I can’t help but ask, “Why?”

Why couldn’t there be enough rain to go around? While I’m asking, why does my friend’s brother, who is a doctor, have a seven-year-old patient whose parents burned him with a cigarette lighter? If God is in control, why do we live in a world where airplanes are flown into buildings?

I find satisfaction in two answers…

In John 1 it says, “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The message says it this way, “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” In other words, the one who was there in the beginning, creating the world, became a person and moved right in the middle of it all. The god of the Bible is not distant, but instead, He understands very well what it’s like to suffer. I don’t know why God allows certain things to happen, but when we suffer, there’s no one who understands better than Jesus.

I find satisfaction in knowing that there is a day coming when there will no longer be suffering. There’s a day coming when floods will no longer devastate Vermont. There’s a day coming when wild fires will no longer destroy people’s home in Texas. There’s a day coming when cancer won’t take people’s lives. There’s a day coming when pain, suffering, and injustice will no longer exist. And that will be a good day…a very, VERY good day.

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