In Victoria, Australia we have just come through a horrific time of bushfires driven by high winds in 46 degree heat. Over 200 people have been killed by the fiery blazes with some towns being destroyed completely. For some people, such suffering raises the question of ‘Where is God?’ The questioners raise this question as if the mere presence of such tragedies shatter any belief in the existence of a loving God. Surely, that can’t be so because such events have been happening since recorded history and yet belief in God has continued. I’ve heard it suggested that at the Fall into apostasy by man, everything falls under the judgment of God but God freely maintains his creation in the face of its fall away from his Rule (even though the effects of man’s apostasy are revealed throughout the creation daily). The bushfires, some of which were deliberately caused by firebugs, others caused by lightning strikes, evidence the consequences of man’s fall into sin. We might question, 'Where is God?' but the answer comes, ‘Where I’ve always been, upholding and sustaining my creation despite the powers seeking its destruction!
But, then in this drama, I hear another question and it is the question that God addresses to man. ‘Where are you O Man?’ And do we not have to say that we often are the ones whose hearts are far from God, who live as virtual deists, imagining that God may be the creator but is certainly not interested in the world as it exists today.
Do we not have to confess that we live as if God didn’t exist but cry out in pain and anger when suddenly we face tragedies such as bushfire and flood? And then the question comes, "Where have you been O Man? Where has your attention been during the months and years when you have given Me not a thought or concern?" The bushfires do not so much call God’s existence into question as call our existence into question.
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