“Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” – Psalm 135:6
When it comes to God and His Sovereign right to do all He pleases in heaven and on earth, such is the depravity of mankind that we take our seat in the court of human opinion as both the jury and the Judge. We want answers! We feel we have a right to answers. God owes us an explanation (we think). So we schedule an immediate trial. God Himself must answer to us. He must be put in the dock. We demand that He answer the charges made against Him of injustice. And He had better come up with an adequate explanation. He had better be convincing, for we are more than ready to find Him guilty as charged for violating our moral sense of “goodness.”
Yet, though we schedule the court hearing, hiring the best prosecution attorneys to act on our beahlf, God does not show up for the trial. This makes us all the more angry of course. But from His perspective, He feels no need or obligation to explain Himself.
You will remember, I am sure, that Job asked a whole lot of questions as to why calamity had struck him and his family and never once did he receive an answer. God felt no obligation to explain Himself, but instead asked Job “where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Job is stunned into silence as God asked question after question, none of which he could answer.
When devastation occurs, many wish to point their cannons Godward, demanding that He explain Himself to us. Many are doing exactly this as the events of the last few days have unfolded. Some Christians and even some preachers, feeling the weight of the questions posed against God, resort to very unscriptural concepts of God to try to shield Him from scrutiny. They say “God is just as upset as you are. Once the tsunami occurred, God was weeping in heaven, knowing the calamity would strike. There was nothing He could do. If only there were something. See His tears, as He weeps!”
Really? Is that an explanation? God was powerless to prevent it? Really?
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Do miracles happen today? If we believe in a God who still answers prayer, I am sure we as Bible believing Christians would say “yes.”
“Uno dei malfattori appesi alla croce lo insultava: «Non sei tu il Cristo? Salva te stesso e anche noi!». Ma l’altro lo rimproverava: «Neanche tu hai timore di Dio e sei dannato alla stessa pena? Noi giustamente, perché riceviamo il giusto per le nostre azioni, egli invece non ha fatto nulla di male». E aggiunse: «Gesù, ricordati di me quando entrerai nel tuo regno». Gli rispose: «In verità ti dico, oggi sarai con me nel paradiso»” (Luca 23:39-43).