Is there a reason God is doing this? I understand the concept of chastisement, but really, if such is needed, surely not by the Midwest.
As a Christian, I do not believe that God is *doing* this, but that God is *allowing* this to happen, that He has withdrawn so much of His protection of this country in view of the way it has turned its back on Him. :*( I pray for America every day, I think things are just going to get worse!
Sometimes the Lord will cause a person who is saved to suffer; remember the Apostle Paul and his suffering. He viewed it as a reward to be able to suffer in the name of Christ. If our suffering is not directly because of persecution because of our faith, but perhaps because of an accident or illness, and throughout our suffering we keep our faith, that glorifies God. We must remember that no matter what the trial or tribulation, God will not abandon us, and he will never place a burden on us such that he will not also give us the strength to persevere throughout it.
Ecc 9:11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
The simple truth is that we should love, and cherish our loved ones like there is no tomorrow.
That being said, the parents really need all our prayers now, for this is an absolutely heart wrenching thing to happen.
>> Is there a reason God is doing this?
A child’s fall is not the intention of the parent. It is, however, His intention to bring us healing and comfort. JMHO.
My wife was asking the very same question, and my son of all people, said the following, "Just think of all the people who otherwise would not be exposed, or open to hearing about the gospel through all this, how many people are being brought together through this tragedy, and are benefiting from the outpouring of real Christian charity and love."
At the age of 18, and a new comer to the faith, he constantly struggles to make sense of it. So, coming from him it was kind of a surprise. Still what he said was true. God works in mysterious ways, and sometime the best we, as sinner saved only by the grace of God, can do is look at any given situation and try to figure out what aspect of God is being revealed to us and how we can use it to glorify Him.
“Is there a reason God is doing this?”
No “god” had anything to do with it.
I don't know but the town I work in was hit extremely hard. The death toll was low (9) considering that six tornadoes hit the area and there were 285 homes destroyed but one thing that did happen was that the community really came together. The city was starting to grow too much and people were losing touch with each other even though as cities go it was still a great place. After the storms we saw people come from all over to help. Red Cross was inundated with volunteers. It was amazing! Businesses shut down and sent their employees to help. They also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars of supplies. There was virtually no looting. The whole disaster seemed to unite people. I'm very proud of this city and all the neighboring counties that helped.
Sometimes these disasters humble us when we start getting to big for our britches and let us know we are not in charge. :-)
Another question was asked about how could somebody be sucked out of a sun roof. One of the homes we went to when we took supplies was a lady that fostered dogs and cats for the animal shelter. Her home wasn't completely destroyed but she was fostering several cats indoors. When a section of the roof was blown off all of her cats were sucked out through the hole and killed. The force a tornado has is indescribable if you have never been in one.
A three month old baby was pulled out of it's mothers arms in the same tornado, and has yet to be found. There is an expression: “Unknowable to Men is the Peace of God”.
We are looking at not just a micro but a micro of a micro of the Scale God created. Consider the evil and infamy that God has seen and will see thru his creation, Time. He has heard every lie, seen every betrayal, seen every crime, every rape, every slaughter, every selfish grasp, every vicious thrust. He knows how it all ends and whether the reward is worth the pain. He Knows!
What do you think God is doing? Nature is taking its course. He set the seasons in motions millions of years ago and it is following its natural, yearly cycle.