Where Is God When Disaster Walks In?

During my undergrad days at the University of Ghana, I had a good friend. He was almost always in our room because we read the same course. We often discussed ideas, sometimes veering off into conversations about our private lives.

One day, he disclosed to me during our chit-chat how he gave up on church and everything Christian-related. Frankly, it was on that fateful day that I even got to know he was once a Christian leader back in his secondary school days.

About his turning point, he recalls that his mother got very ill at a point in his life. As the first child, he fasted for days and prayed for hours. He wholeheartedly believed his mother was going to get back on her feet soon. It was his earnest desire for God to heal her like the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible. Lo and behold, his good old mother kicked the bucket one day!

That was his breaking point. His heart was wounded. He wept like a baby. Not only was his dream of his mother attending his graduation shattered. His faith in God was, too. If the man up there could not listen to his prayers, then it was obvious He did not even exist.

Before we wrapped up our conversation that evening, he looked into my eyes with deep concern, “Where is God when disaster walks in?”

Sincerely, his question seemed familiar. I had asked myself a similar question before. When those words fell out of his mouth, I remembered some ugly days in my life ─ days when pain hit me so hard. These were days when I somewhat believed that God did not exist because if He did, the outcome would have been different.

Does God exist? If He does, why does evil befall good people? Why does he look unconcerned as anarchy tears this world into pieces? Each day brings forth news of evil befalling people. If there is a hand that rules in the affairs of men, why does it not deliver men from evil?

Where is God when a family loses their only breadwinner? Where is He when one’s marriage ends woefully? When disaster strikes a nation and that nation mourns, where is their God? When the only child of a couple dies, does God just watch on when He could have saved that child?

In my few years of existence, I have come to the ugly realization that we will never cease asking ourselves some of these hard questions as long as we have life. The older I get, the more I notice that man and pain are two inseparable friends. And as inseparable as we are, we will live with each other until our time on earth is done.

Life happens. Life will sometimes give us something bitter to taste. We will sometimes lose what we love. What we least expect may hit us someday. When it has all been said and done, does the presence of pain signify the absence of God? Does the existence of death mean the giver of life doesn’t exist? Of course not!

Putting our faith in Christ does not insulate us from pain. It gives us somebody to lean on during the pain. Believing in God does not exempt us from life’s troubles. It instead assures us that there is an eye that jealously keeps watching over us.

Christ lends us a shoulder to lean on during the pain. He welcomes us into His embrace, reminding us that He is capable of bearing any yoke ─ regardless of its size. No disaster is too big a yoke to lay on His shoulders.

The antidote to pain is having faith in someone bigger than that pain. Faith in God is never wasted because there is nothing as comforting as knowing that the loved ones you have lost are in a better place. There is comfort in knowing that God knows best.

Where is God when disaster walks in? He is right there, ensuring that the same disaster spares others. The existence of disasters signifies the existence of His love. This love humbles those who were spared while comforting the family of those who were not.

Of a truth, disasters are not necessarily a punishment for what we have done. Losing people or things dear to us may not be because of what we did wrong. Such events, instead of shaking our faith, should reaffirm our hope in the Supreme Being. He is still on His throne, reminding us of His unwavering love for us.

Disasters are not a reminder that God has no control over the earth. Instead, they remind us of how incapable we are if we dare solely rely on our strength. If our knowledge were enough, there would have been no accidents. If our human wisdom were enough, there would have been no floods.

Disasters come to remind us that, despite everything depending on God, He can do nothing if we fail to honor our part of the bargain. His role to protect us is as important as our role to keep ourselves from evil. If our roads are bad, it will take human efforts to fix them. If our cars are out of shape, we have to maintain them. If we eat junk, we will fall ill.

While we ask where God is in times of disaster, we must sit to reflect on how our negligence may have contributed to this disaster. God’s grace cannot flourish in a place of ignorance and negligence. If it will take human effort to be fixed, look not up to divinity to fix it.

God does not look on helplessly as His creation perishes. It is not His desire to see us in tears. However, on days when we tear up, He is the shoulder we should lean on. His shoulders were made for our tears.

If you have lost your marriage, be strengthened. If you have lost some loved ones, don’t faint. Plant your faith solidly in your Creator. Keep your faith anchored in the love of Christ. He understands the end even before it happens. The storms may come, but you have one greater than the storms in your boat. Smile!

May the souls of the departed rest well. May what we have lost be restored in a thousandfold. God walks in when disaster walks in. We are not alone in the storms. He is right there with us. Peace, be still!

Kobina Ansah is the Chief Scribe of Scribe Productions (www.scribeproductions.com) and Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com).