Why Katrina?
Hurricanes and Natural Disasters
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Ivan is a Bible name – John:
“Prepare the way of Yahweh, make his paths straight.” John means “Yahweh is Merciful.” Hurricane Dennis struck the
Father, make possible
for us by grace what is impossible for us by nature. You know we’re not able to endure much, and
that we’re downcast by the slightest difficulty. Grant that for your sake we may come to love
and desire any hardship that puts us to the test, for salvation is brought to
our souls when we undergo suffering and trouble for you. Amen. Thomas à Kempis (1379 –
1471)
Job 36 :1-4,22-33; 37:2-13 read in the message
Psalms 77: 14-20. Thou art the El who workest wonders, who hast
manifested thy might among the peoples.
Thou didst with thy arm redeem thy people, the sons of Jacob and
Joseph. Selah.
When the waters saw thee, O Elohim,
when the waters saw thee, they were afraid, yea, the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies gave
forth thunder; thy arrows flashed on every side. The crash of thy thunder was in the
whirlwind; thy lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and
shook. Thy way was through the sea, thy
path through the great waters; yet thy footprints were unseen.
Thou didst lead thy people like a
flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (UMH
798)
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Luke 17:26. As it was in the days of Noah,
so will it be in the days of the Son of man.
27. They ate, they drank, they
married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28. Likewise as it was in the
days of
31.
On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the
house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the
field not turn back. 32. Remember
The epic of Job is one of the oldest and
most well known in the world. Job is a
righteous man; he’s a man of great family and means. But Satan challenges Job’s g*d, claiming that
if he can strike at the things Job values, Job will commit the
unpardonable sin. Yahweh gives Satan
permission to test his theory but spare Job’s life.
So Satan starts his evil by fixing Job’s
family – his sons and daughters and their clans were making merry at the home of
Job’s eldest son when four catastrophes befall:
- bandits attack the servants’
quarters and kill everyone;
- a meteorite burns up the shepherds
and sheep;
- terrorists sweep in and steal and
kill;
- finally a whirlwind blows the house
down, crushing the family. A few
servants escape to tell the horrific tale.
Yet afflicting Job’s heart and mind isn’t
sufficient. Satan afflicts his body –
with
loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the
crown of his head. Job takes a potsherd
to scrape himself, sitting there among the ashes. Then his wife says, “Do you still hold fast?
Curse G*d, and die.” But Job says, “You
speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at G*d’s
hand and shall we not receive evil?” In
all this Job did not sin with his lips.
(Job 2:7-10)
Calamity of the highest order came upon this
righteous man. Demonic forces,
bereavement and loss, terror, financial ruin, devastating weather and disease. Even his wife blames his relationship with
the Almighty. But through it all, Job
hadn’t sinned; there was a much higher purpose in his affliction than anyone
could imagine – that it might teach us
something of the ways of the God of Old.
Job’s
Friends
Word gets out, and along come Job’s
friends. They don’t even recognize the
wise man as he sits in sackcloth and ashes.
They behold a man blasted with the sands of disaster, and they sit in
the shadow of his grief for a week without saying a word. Job’s was an age of hospitality and solitude;
his friends ministered silent presence
while Job’s wife saw to their needs.
Job finally breaks the stillness – he
curses the day he was born and calls
on the rest of death.
Job 3:11-19.
Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the
breasts, that I should suck? For then I
should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have
been at rest ... Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that
never see the light? There the wicked
cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.”
This complaint opens the door for Job’s
friends to opine about his
dilemma. Each friend’s sure he knows the
reason for Job’s judgment – be it a sin or a character flaw or just that Job
was rich – well – that was reason enough
for him to lose everything, one callous fellow thought.
The poems of Job’s friends continue on for
35 chapters. Some of the language is so
ancient and obscure that translators are stumped. Job’s friends were also stymied, falling back
to the same old question we do – Why does a benevolent, almighty and
all-powerful creator allow suffering? The unseen
Job must have been rotten for this to
happen to him – this is what we, like his friends, are conditioned to believe.
Aren’t We
Blessed?
In this epoch of great climatic change, we
wonder, “Were there not ten
righteous, commandment-keeping, Father-loving folks among the victims of the
latest catastrophe to stay the storm from the rest?” Did folks on the coast not love and revere
Yahweh’s Son? Are we, who live in the
Bible belt, not the chosen? Then why
have our lives not been protected from the natural calamities of the last few
years? What sins or omissions have the
common folks in
And while we’re at it: What science is
behind the storms, and why couldn’t some smart professor or flashy
meteorologist stay them? Why couldn’t we
pray Katrina away last week, or why do we just not believe we could? Why didn’t those who received early warning
vamoose? Why did the good get stung
right along with the bad? Why did some
folks get off better than others? were some more divinely blessed? better
commandment-keepers or lovers of humankind?
more beloved by the Almighty? Or
were some just luckier than others?
Do you feel lucky? Maybe our town is just lucky.
Another
Man – Elihu
All of a sudden, another wanders in to
recline in Job’s ash pit. He’s young,
uninvited and no friend. As a youth, he
had sense enough to wait for his elders to speak first. But when his turn came, he was bold, for he
was there to speak on the Almighty’s behalf.
His name is Elihu (which means, “He is my El”):
Job
36 & 37 excerpts: I’ll
show you all, for I have something to say on G*d’s behalf. One who’s perfect in knowledge is with you. Behold, Yahweh
is exalted in his power; who’s a teacher like him? Who can say, ‘You’ve done wrong’? For he draws up the drops of water, he
distils his mist in rain that the skies pour down, and drop upon man.
Can any one understand the spreading
of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?
Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the
sea. For by these things he judges peoples. He covers his hands with the lightning and
commands it to strike the mark. Its
crashing declares the One who’s jealous with anger against iniquity.
Hearken to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners
of the earth. After his voice roars; he
thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain them when his voice
is heard.
Yahweh thunders wondrously with his
voice; he does immense works that we can’t comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’;
and to the shower and the rain, ‘Be strong.’
He hinders the power of humanity that all may know his work.
The beasts go into
their lairs, and stay in their dens when, from its chamber, comes the
whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.
By the breath of G*d, ice is cast forth and the broad waters are frozen
fast. He loads the thick cloud with
water; the clouds scatter his lightning.
They turn round and round and round by his guidance, to accomplish all
that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
Job
37:13. Whether for correction, or for his land, or for love,
he causes it to happen.
(love = רסח,
checed, kindness or reproach;
eleoV LXX, mercy)
The
Wisdom of Elihu
Elihu shares divine knowledge about not only
the events then, but what’s happening now.
Elihu says that, apart from why such things happen, El is present
– along with his perfect understanding
of each imperfect situation. Shouldn’t
the Creator understand the created elements?
Yes, the weather is an intimate part of who He is; the rain, snow, wind,
ice, clouds, whirlwinds, lightnings and thunderings: they’re His voice. Weather disturbances are the means by which
Yahweh speaks the loudest to us – and
to all humanity – be we in
covenant with him or not.
All hear the heavenly voice
from skies and seas. All
quake at the rumblings of thunder. All
are blinded by explosive lightning. All
are aware of whirlwinds and the driving rains – even beasts seek
refuge. Some are glued to the news –
thereby his voice shakes the world. His
mouth is a roaring explosion; and he tells his mouth, “Be loud and
strong.” The winds gather so because he
commands them, “SPIN!” He decrees, “GO
FORTH!”
So his voice will be heard in the power
of his word - in the midst of all the
eating, drinking, consuming, glutting merriment and lewdness of
an unconcerned, disobedient, distracted
and rebellious nation. He utters his voice; he removes his hand;
then he makes his mercy known.
Flushing Out the Bad
Why would he? Three reasons are found in the most
curious line of Elihu’s poem: “Whether for correction or for his land or for
love, he causes it” (Job 37:13) – correction, land or love.
Unfortunately, people are in the way of
the renewal of land and water.
That’s a fact. Great storms are vital to the natural process of
cleaning up land and flushing out waterways of debris and
detritus. Hurricanes distribute seeds of
native vegetation while destroying plants that aren’t indigenous to an
area. “This is my Father’s world,” and
he takes care. Hurricanes redistribute
sand and dirt and create new dunes and habitats, making safer places for
wildlife to live. They bring in fresh
water. Elihu tells us that Yahweh
restores creation when she’s groaning, and our structures, many of which are built upon sand, are in the way of the
restoration of creation .
But more apropos is that Yahweh ushers
storms upon “the habitable world” (Job 37:12) – for “correction.” Some versions say “judgment.” The debris and detritus of the human heart
need a good out-flushing. Ashes to ashes
– what He’s given, He may reclaim.
What’s His, he may take back.
Yahweh’s uttering his voice: “Why seek the living among the dead? Turn back and learn from me. Seek out the living instead.” He’s strongly cautioning that his
commandments are forever; he’ll
enforce the laws of nature now, and, at the final trumpet, the law of liberty. By all accounts, trumpet time is our time.
Trumpets
Speaking of trumpets. There is a special day that our Heavenly
Father commanded all those in covenant to remember for all generations. It’s decreed in:
Leviticus 23:24.
“Say to the people of
This is the
Feast of Trumpets. Has anyone heard of
it?
Trumpets arrives at the end of every
scriptural year to remind us that a day
of reckoning is ahead, and that we should ever be prepared for it. In your
Bible, this reckoning’s called, “The Day of the LORD,”
referred-to twenty-one times in the Old Testament and six times in the
New. A large amount of the Bible refers
to this thousand-year Day of the LORD.
(In mine, “The Day of Yahweh.”)
It’ll be a millennium of rejoicing for a few,
mercy for some, justice for all, and retribution for most. For those in covenant with the Master, it’ll
be an age of unparalleled activity and
mission.
Jesus advises that the “Day of the LORD” arrives suddenly, after a protracted period of world
war; and on that Day, unimagined disaster.
Only in the last hundred years
has the world owned the technology
for global war. We’re in a World War
NOW, and have been continually since at least 1914 – almost a hundred
years. The trumpet that the Revelator
calls the Seventh, Jesus calls the Great, and Paul calls the Final – is
signaling that awesome Day even now. We
can predict when the hurricane is to come, but can we discern the Signs of the
Times?
In church last year, we were preparing to observe the Feast of Trumpets when
Hurricane Ivan swept into our community with blasts that couldn’t be ignored (September
16, 2004). I’ll spare you the details. When the worst had passed, I stepped out to
behold the utter destruction of the familiar sites I’d awakened each morning to
see for the previous three years. Houses
and lands on each side were utterly
ruined, but my church house was miraculously preserved. How could it be? Was I such a good boy? Hardly.
But when one is taken and one is left all around you, and you are left,
you too will wonder why, and you may seek out the ash pit of repentance. The Feast of Trumpets, 2004, was a day of awe
and wondering – but it was only one of many signs seen by those with knowledge.
Believer, write TRUMPETS on your 2005
calendar now – October 4th – one month away to the day. Go through your Bible and learn what Trumpets
stands for and for how long Trumpets are to be observed. Be forewarned. Hurricane Ivan’s advent caused me to
reconsider whether to hear the plain voice of Heaven or the grave fantasies and
omissions of Protestant traditions?
Katrina further reinforces a Scriptural rather than traditional
view. Regarding Trumpets, which, along with all the other days we’re to observe, Yahweh
says, “It is a statute forever in all your dwellings.” How plainly do you read that? Yet proving you love him by “keeping his
commandments” is hardly in vogue these days of Laodicean apostasy (Revelation 3:17).
But this week, millions more heard his voice of warning.
We Covenant
Men can’t afford to be lax about the eternal. Like in Job’s case, obedience may be the
safety net for those of your people who are, in that day, eating and drinking
on
The
Mercy of Yahweh
Elihu gives us a third reason why Yah
allows, even tacitly causes, disasters to happen in this final day – he says,
“out of love” (RSV only). (A better translation
might be “mercy.”) How can such terrors be “out of love,” or merciful? Here’s how.
Yahweh is compassionate and merciful (Exodus
33:19). He gave us a good creation so as to view his handiwork. He also assembled prophets to convey His
intentions and foretell the future; other prophets to lead his people into
paths of righteousness and duty. Yahweh
set his Son on a flagpole to convey his will in a way the world will ne’er
forget. And after his execution, Yahweh sent
him back into the midst of the howling masses to comfort and empower the
bereaved, and warn of the Day of Awe to come. He sent the Paraclete to woo all humanity to
a right relationship so that even death
might NOT rapture them off. And he’s sent a multitude of undeniable,
latter-day signs and servants to warn the whole world of That
Day (Isaiah 2:12), and
set his own Covenant Men to action.
What more can he do? He can send a whole army of Elihus into the
situation to show how “Wisdom is known by her children.” As he has sounded his mighty voice (Job
37:3-5), he now extends his outstretched arm of help. We are that arm! We must rise to the responsibility of that
great Mercy. We simply must.
Hurricane Katrina Prayer
loosely based on Renée Miller
Job
35 - 38
O
Father, we recall the terror of Job as he sat in ashes. His companions berated him, his companion
cursed him, and all that had been his was gone.
He was an afflicted man among strangers, abandoned by his god. When he cried to you for help, you stopped
the railing of the devil, comforted his heart with strong words, and restored
his fortunes. We ask now that you
comfort and still the hearts of those suffering from the effects of Hurricane
Katrina. We pray for those who have been displaced and who now must return to
homes destroyed or damaged by the storm. We pray for those whose lives were
lost and for those who now must grieve the loss of a loved one. We pray for
those who are attempting to offer help and relief to victims. While we wonder
why such devastation can occur, where lives and property can seem held so
capriciously in the hand of what is uncontrollable. Yet we know, O Father, that you can count
every hair on every head. We know that
you have every name of every person written on your palm. Lend us your wisdom
for a season of restoration. Let us be a
part of the rescue of the lost and hopeless.
And through us, let your loving favor wash over those who must now face
damaged lives, wrecked homes, and poverty.
Hold them close to yourself until they are sure of the security of your
loving embrace. Calm all hearts and still all souls, O Yahweh. We ask this for
the sake of love. AMEN.
Ways
to Help
1.
Pray for victims and their families, that they will find their fears calmed,
that they will be given hope in their loss, and that they will be given the
strength to begin anew. Set up a prayer
vigil. Pray for those who have died, and for their families and friends who
grieve.
2.
Listen to the local news to find out about relief efforts in your area and how
you might participate. Subscribe to the
Conference newsletters to learn what opportunities the church presents. Foodkits, health kits, clean clothing, storm
buckets,
3.
Set aside some portion of your income to help those in need. UMCOR Advance Special #982523.
4.
Offer hospitality to displaced persons and families. . Offer to care for the pets of those who
have been displaced.
5.
Write a letter of hope and encouragement to victims and send it to your local
politicians, and to your local newspaper editor.
6.
Volunteer.