God seems to catch the blame for everything. He is the sovereign Lord and Divine Mastermind of everything created, but it amazes me how easily the creatures He created want to pin responsibility at His doorstep. Divine sovereignty never eradicates human responsibility. They are not diametrically opposed or polar opposites. On the contrary, they are partners in what we call this reality of life.
It seems that the dooms-dayers, the naysayers, and the pious pharisaical players of prophetic gobble-de-gook love to point out how natural disasters and deadly diseases are the judgment of God. They would say the tsunami that struck Japan, or Hurricane Katrina, or the Aids virus, or a thousand other methods by which human beings tragically die are somehow caused by an angry God, who is only giving us what we deserve. The enemy has done such a good job that most Christians now believe and parrot this idiocy. “Ouch!” you say—“that’s a bit strong don’t you think?” No, not really. If I could muster a way to say it in a more straightforward way I would, but it probably wouldn’t be rated G and thus deemed unwholesome and ungodly.
We are living in a marvelous dispensation of grace that began the moment Jesus took on our sins and became sin for us and will extend until He removes His church from this world. It pleased the Father, according to Holy Writ, to pour out all the condemnation and punishment that we deserved onto the shoulders of His dear Son. Jesus endured divine justice that we might embrace undeserved mercy. He bore the wrath so that we might be granted grace. Judgment was satisfied and its cost was Christ. God was and is still pleased by this. He is not mad. God is good.
Wednesday, April 27 will be an infamous and long remembered day in the history of my beloved state. Alabama The Beautiful was devastated by a historic weather pattern being referred to by many as the “Perfect Storm.” A Northern cold front collided with a Gulf warm front and their deadly offspring were ushered across the Southern United States by a relentless jet stream. The result was a series of killer tornadoes of epic proportions. They began early in the morning and continued with a vengeance throughout the day and into the night wreaking havoc and raining death and debris from one side of the state to the other.
These terrifying storms were not the handiwork of God. No; they were the result of one solitary act of human disobedience that occurred in the tranquil paradise of Eden. That single deed opened and unleashed a proverbial Pandora’s Box of evil on a once pristine and ideal environment created in perfect balance by a loving God. Paradise was not just lost, it was replaced by a system of cause and effect, which has snowballed into a planet whose natural laws seem out of control at times.
One word of encouragement: God is still in control. He has not abdicated His role as Creator. But…He is not to blame—we are!