WHERE IS GOD?

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you. - (Job 40:6-14 NIV)

I’ve heard a few critics and skeptics accuse Christians of callousness and arrogance during times of calamity. They point to Christians who speak words like “the wrath of God” and “getting what we deserve”. And then they inevitably throw the Big Bomb:

Where is your God?

If He’s so compassionate, good and loving as you say He is then why did He allow this calamity to happen?

I know of these people because I used to be one of them.

I loved throwing the Big Bomb. It made Christians speechless. It stopped them dead in their tracks. It gave me a sense of intellectual superiority and sophistication to silence these fanatics. It boosted my ego just to get these people to just STFU.

It had nothing to do with compassion. It had nothing to do with searching for answers. It had everything to do with human pride.

Now that I’m a Christian myself, I too get silenced by the Big Bomb. But now I understand why Christians get so stumped by it. And it’s not because of ignorance or stupidity.

It’s because man is so woefully inadequate to answer for the Divine.

Think about that for a moment.

Even with all our technologies and advances in science, even with all our human institutions and mechanisms for change, even with all our resources and capital, all it took was one tropical storm to remind us of our frailty and humanity.

If there is one correct answer to the Big Bomb, it is this:

We are NOT God.

The second, and probably the most important correct answer for a Christian to give is to show compassion.

I may not be able to answer why God allows calamities to happen. But I do know that while God is the source of righteous wrath, He is also the source of compassion, mercy and love.

That knowledge shouldn’t cause us to be arrogant or condescending. Rather, it should cause us to be humble and contrite.

Because I did NOT invent compassion. On the contrary, left to my own devices, I’m a very callous, selfish and self-righteous man.

But because I can look at God and see the finished work of His Son on the Cross, I can know what true compassion is and thus ultimately help me to be truly compassionate myself.

And then I can answer with Job:

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." - (Job 42:2-6 NIV)

 

Post Script:

Thousands of people are in need of food, water and other basic necessities in the Central Philippines.

Your donations will make a difference in their lives.

By far, the easiest way to help is to give cash donations. Some of the organizations in the Philippines directly involved in the relief efforts are the following:

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center (NDRRMC)

Account Name: NDRRMC Donated Funds
Account Numbers: 045-021927-030 (Philippine Peso Account)
                                    0435-021927-530 (US Dollar Account)
Swift Code: DBPHPHMM Account#36002016
Bank Address: Development Bank of the Philippines, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)

Account No. 3124-0055-81
Bank Address: Landbank of the Philippines, Batasan, Quezon City
Contact Person: Ms. Fe Catalina Ea, Cash Division
Contact Numbers: +6329318101 local 226, mobile +639186281897
Website: www.dswd.gov.ph

Philippine Red Cross (PRC)

Banco de Oro: 00-453-0018647 (Philippine Peso Account)
                        10-453-0039482 (US Dollar Account)
Swift Code: BNORPHMM
Metrobank of the Philippines: 151-3-041631228 (Philippine Peso Account)
                                                151-2-15100218-2 (US Dollar Account)
Swift Code: MBTCPHMM
Philippine National Bank: 3752-8350-0034 (Philippine Peso Account)
                                         3750-8350-0042 (US Dollar Account)
Swift Code: PNBMPHMM
Union Bank of the Philippines: 1015-4000-0201 (Philippine Peso Account)
                                                 1315-4000-0090 (US Dollar Account)
Swift Code: UBPHPHMM
Online donation link: http://ushare.redcross.org.ph/

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.

- (Proverbs 3:27 NIV)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

- (1 John 3:16-18 NIV)

 

Lessons from St. Augustine

Augustine of Hippo, considered to be one of the foremost philosophers of Christianity even to this day, was a hedonist prior to his conversion. In our modern day culture of excess and unbridled sensuality, we find a parallel to the world that Augustine was born in.

Despite his sensually indulgent life, Augustine found his life hollow and without meaning. After experimenting with Manichaeism, Skepticism and Neo-Platonism, Augustine converted into Christianity. In his book “Confessions”, he wrote that his conversion was prompted when he heard the singsong voice of a child saying “take” and “read”. Immediately, he took a Bible and opened it to a random page. And there he read the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans saying:

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Romans 13:13-14 NIV)

Perhaps one of the most significant contributions of Augustine to Christian literature came as a result of the sack of Rome in 410 AD. The Eternal City, once thought to be an indomitable symbol of Western culture, fell into the hands of the Visigoth barbarians led by Alaric. As home to the largest and most prestigious Christian church in the West, many devotees questioned the significance of the fall of the Roman Capital. Augustine responded by putting together his magnum opus, “The City of God”, where he described God’s Kingdom as not being rooted in the physical or material realm, but rather in the spiritual realm where God dwells. The physical world is passing away, but the spiritual world is forever. Therefore the City or Kingdom of God is not one that is subject to the rising and falling of earthly kingdoms, but one whose glory is yet to be fully revealed.

But then, how do we know who are in the Kingdom?

“This is the door of the Lord, the righteous shall enter in,” was written on the lintel of a church in Numidia. However, “The man who enters,” Augustine wrote,

"is bound to see drunkards, misers, tricksters, gamblers, adulterers, fornicators, people wearing amulets, assiduous clients of sorcerers, astrologers. He must be warned that the same crowds that press into the churches on Christian festivals also fill the theaters on pagan holidays…Wherever the towering mass of the theatre is erected, there the foundations of Christian virtue are undermined, and while this insane expenditure gives to the sponsors a glorious result, men mock at the works of mercy….

It is only charity that distinguishes the children of God from the children of the Devil. They all make the sign of the Cross and answer “Amen” and sing alleluia, they all go to church and build up the walls of the basilicas…

Take away the barriers afforded by the laws! Men’s brazen capacity to do harm, their urge to self-indulgence would rage to the full. No king in his kingdom, no general with his troops…no husband with his wife, no father with his son, could hope to stop, by any threat or punishment, the license that would follow the sheer sweet taste of sinning….

Give me a man in love; he knows what I mean, give me one who yearns; give me one who is hungry; give me one far away in this desert, who is thirsty and sighs for the springs of the Eternal Country. Give me that sort of man; he knows what I mean. But if I speak to a cold man, he just doesn’t know what I’m talking about…

You are surprised that the world is losing its grip? That the world is grown old? Don’t hold onto the old man, the world; don’t refuse to regain your youth in Christ, who says to you: “The world is passing away; the world is losing its grip, the world is short of breath. Don’t fear, thy youth shall be renewed as an eagle.”

May God bless you all from the abundant riches of His Love and Grace this 2013.

Soli Deo Gloria!