March 12 - Disaster

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Friday, Japan was rocked by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and flooded deeply by a terrifying tsunami. When circumstances and disasters like this happen, it's hard not to question how God can allow it to happen. Sometimes, we get caught up in blaming God and being frustrated with the negative impact it has on all the people involved. We become angry at times because we lose our possessions, our money, our house, our car, or even worse, our family members or friends. It's so easy for us to get upset at God in these times. 

God is full of love and has a heart of compassion for his people. There is no one on this planet that has the right to question God's actions, his plans, his will, or his purpose in each of our lives. Whether a hurricane wrecks our lives or we lose a family member in an accident, we do not have the right to blame God or become upset with him. It's easy to say this when I sit comfortably in my dry home with every little possession in their places, unmoved. We find rest in God. We find comfort under his watch. His grace is sufficient. His mercy endures through good times and bad times.

We thank God one day for his blessings, but the next day we turn around and question his authority. God is the creator of all things and we should be thankful just to know him and have a relationship with him. He could easily build a wall between us and him, making it impossible to enter into his presence, but he is so loving and caring that he wants us to be embraced by his arms. Hard times will happen. We see it from the beginning of time and throughout history. God is in control. 

For the people in Japan, we must reach out to them. Regardless of our economical status, we are called to aide them all. Our prayer is that God's will will be successfully carried out in his time. The people of Japan are in turmoil, but only God can heal the broken hearts of the live's affected by this tragedy. We can show our love with our time. Time in prayer and time in labor. We can show our love with our money. Obviously, we can't all up and leave to help in person, but using our money wisely to help the right organization, restoration can begin. 

Humbly pray...he cares.