He is Lord


“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” So wrote C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain.

These are the words I recalled upon learning of the massive earthquake in Haiti. Several thousands of persons perished, very suddenly and unexpectedly. Into eternity they went – forever gone from this world.

The Bible reveals a God who is there, who is not silent, who has spoken – and He is Lord. Meaning, He is all-powerful.

Is God all powerful? Is God good? If the answers to these questions are “yes”, then why did He not stop the earthquake? Or the tsunami that hit Indonesia a few years ago, or the killing of children by an insane parent?

In 300 B.C., Epicurus put it in a way that is still common. We think of God as infinite in His power. We also consider God as infinite in His goodness. Furthermore, we consider God as infinite in His compassion. On the other hand, evil exists in the world. Not only does evil affect the perpetrator, but it also affects the good person. And further, not all evil is moral – caused by bad people. Some evil is natural – caused by bad things. Bad things happen to good people. If God is able to remove evil but does not, then perhaps He is not so good and compassionate after all. Or perhaps He is good, but not all-powerful. That would explain why evil events or things, earthquakes and tsunamis, happen in the world.

Epicurus asks questions that many sensitive and thoughtful people still ask. Maybe you are one of those asking. Don’t overlook Lewis’ thesis: pain is the megaphone of God. Apart from it, people would be deaf toward God. Could better ways, more tender ways, be used by God? Of course, and in many instances are used by God to seeking souls. But to the non-seeking soul, God must reveal mankind’s impotence against the forces of nature. Only by seeing themselves in such an impotent state will people turn to God. He alone is omnipotent; in a time when bad things happen, where else may we turn for ultimate and everlasting hope?

Omnipotent versus Impotent.

Not really much of a choice, is it?

It is not wrong for God to reveal our entirely dependent nature. He knows our pride and stubborn spirit will refuse to bend to Him. Occasionally He uses a means to shock us out of a spiritually lethargic state. Means that we call “natural disasters.” Only by such a means will we recognize the great need we have of God and His salvation.

In the midst of tragedy, we strive to assist and minister to those who are suffering. But all the while we come to learn that God alone can ultimately, finally and fully bring healing to others. And His healing is not just physical; it touches the soul (mind) and spirit (the immortal) of man.

Do you trust in the omnipotent God to be there for you and with you through life’s most difficult moments? “Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me…” (Psalm 23:4).

We must trust in Him. He alone is greater than the forces of nature, of the traumas of life, and of the grim reality of approaching death.

He is LORD.