My unfortunate sister chose last week to move from flood-stricken Brisbane to Cairns, so having miraculously escaped flooding at her house in Brisbane she then had to live through Cyclone Yasi in an evacuation centre, which lost power in the cyclone along with the rest of the city.
Understandably, this kind of unprecedented disaster, which can't be blamed on terrorists or inadequate legislation or any of the other human causes that inevitably have the finger pointed at them, causes people to wonder. Why all this at once? Is there any reason?
Many ordinary Australians who have had the opportunity to give their opinion in front of the TV cameras or in the newspaper have asked 'what has Australia done to deserve this?', or have attributed the cause to the whims of 'Mother Nature'. The language reflects a state of confusion about supernatural responsibility. Is it some detached, capricious being/spirit/force (?) people like to call 'mother nature' who causes such events at whim? If so, she gives us no way of understanding them within a bigger picture. Is there some dictatorial, sadistic ‘big brother’ who holds people and whole nations responsible for the things they do and metes out punishment as wrongdoings are noticed (but equally without giving instructions for how to avoid such punishment)?
Those two views are not mutually compatible, and if we think about it, they don’t reflect reality either. We know that people do bad things without getting punished for it at the time (does that mean the punishing being doesn't see? Or is a bit slow? In either case, they’re not really worth worshipping). And science tells us that there is order in nature, and although events such as floods and cyclones may occur unexpectedly (although we usually have some warning), the reasons for their occurrence as phenomena in general are no longer a mystery to us. Is it just that we are bothered by not being able to predict the times and places of such events over the whole trajectory of our lifetimes so that we could plan better and ensure we are out of the way when they come?
The idea that Australia has done something 'to deserve this' from mother nature also assumes an entity who punishes nations for wrongdoing, though somewhat capriciously. But at the same time the question ‘what has Australia done to deserve this’ assumes that our nation is really without fault and doesn't deserve such treatment. And what guidelines has 'mother nature' given us for knowing whether we have gone wrong or not? None that I know of.
But there is a God who created nature, including us (we are part of nature, after all). He has revealed himself to us through his creation:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
(Psalm 19:1, ESV)
The apostle Paul made a similar appeal to the people of Athens after he had walked around the city and seen altars absurdly dedicated to ‘the unknown god’:
What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for "'In him we live and move and have our being'...
(Acts 17:23b-28, ESV)
Unlike ‘Mother Nature’ or a mysterious ‘big brother’ figure, God has also revealed to us how we are to conduct ourselves within his creation, through the Bible (which is his word spoken/written through prophets and historians and poets and apostles). I'm not saying the recent floods and cyclone and bushfires in Australia are necessarily punishment for some particular corporate wrongdoing of Queensland or any other state, or indeed the whole nation. The God who created this world has told us, through the Bible, that the problems we face in living in this creation are a result of original sin. Again, Paul writes to the Romans explaining this:
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:18-23, ESV)
So we are 'without excuse' for failing to recognize him and rather insisting on this 'mother nature' who cares nothing for us at all, unlike God. We won't see an end to natural disasters, disease, or conflict until this world ends and the new world begins - which will happen when Jesus returns to judge the world once and for all. God loves us so much that he sent Jesus, his only Son, (John 3:16) to live on earth as a man and die a horrific death so that we who believe in Him would not have to face the punishment we deserve for our own sins.
Mother nature does not ask anything of us, and I suspect that’s part of the reason Australians are happy enough to invoke her in these kinds of situations. But Jesus calls us to know and obey Him, and when we come to him his light exposes our darkness and sinfulness (John 3:16-21). But rather than condemning us, he gives us new life and teaches us how to live in his light, and promises us that we can share the glory and wonder of heaven with him.
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