Why will God send a calamity? Maybe this is a question in our hearts. I pray I may give even just a glimmer of truth concerning this.
How important is it for us to understand the biblical
theology of calamity, and how this will help our prayer and intercession for
our nation and ourselves?
It is important that we come in prayer for the Lord to bring
a solution to this virus around the world.
It is important that we lift up our “frontliners” who are
dealing with the patients, and who are also in danger of catching the virus.
It is important that we pray for those who cannot work, who
have no income during this time.
And it is important for us to pray for God’s protection upon
ourselves, and our loved ones, that we do not catch this virus.
So many things to pray for.
But we need to go deeper in our understanding of calamity so
that our prayer may not just be focused on the obvious needs and circumstances,
but also on the heart of God.
If we have read God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation (The
“IF” is meant for us to check – have we read from Genesis to Revelation? Now is the time for us to do it) you will notice that calamity is not absent
in God’s story. Where is the first
worldwide calamity that God brought?
That’s in Genesis 6-7, the
flood that destroyed all mankind except Noah and his family. After that story after story about famine,
war, death, etc.
Even in the history of Israel…they were not exempted from
calamity that came from God.
Jeremiah’s prophecy in Lamentations gives us one of the
reasons why, if not the major reason, our sovereign God will send calamity upon
the world.
Lamentations 3:37-42 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord
has not decreed it? (38) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
(39) Why should any living man
complain when punished for his sins?
(40) Let us examine our ways and
test them, and let us return to the LORD.
(41) Let us lift up our hearts
and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
(42) We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
First, where does calamity come from?
(38) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
It comes from the Lord.
Both calamities and good things come from the mouth of the Lord. In other words, He is the One who commands
it.
It is important for us to understand that this prophecy of
Jeremiah was given to Israel, not the world!
This was God commanding calamity to come upon His people!
For what reason? Why
send a calamity?
(39) Why should any living man complain when
punished for his sins?
The reason calamity comes is because of sin. When God brought the flood to destroy mankind
in Genesis 6-7, it was because of sin.
Sin is the very foundational reason why calamities are
coming upon the world.
And we, His people, are not exempted from it.
Is this calamity we are experiencing now causing us to check
our hearts? All men have sinned,
including us. When we pray for mercy and
grace for our nation, we need to include ourselves in this prayer. It’s not just the world that is sinful – so
are we. Calamity has come because of
sin, theirs and ours. It just so happens
that we have been graciously saved from the penalty of sin through Jesus
Christ. But the effect of sin upon the
world is because all men have sinned.
But, just as with Israel, God may be dealing with our own
sins. There may be some of us who,
through saved by grace, are still continuing in certain sins that is offending
our God? (lack of prayer and meditating
on His word is one of those sins).
Is God waking some of us up from the sins that we are
committing?
When God brings a calamity upon the world He is not just
dealing with the world’s sin, but also with His church’s sin.
And what outcome is our sovereign God after with this
calamity?
(40) Let us examine our ways and test them, and
let us return to the LORD. (41) Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to
God in heaven, and say: (42) We have sinned and rebelled and you have
not forgiven.
REPENTANCE.
“Let us examine our ways and test them… we have sinned and
rebelled and you have not forgiven”
“…let us return to the Lord…Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven”
Again, it begins with us, the church.
Even before we pray for anything else, are we examining our
ways and testing them? Do we realize the
sin and rebellion that God has not forgiven?
Then let us return to the Lord and lift up our hearts and
hands to Him.
But this is also the same offer God has for the world!
Only God’s grace can open the heart of a person and show
them that they have sinned and rebelled against God.
And only God’s grace can move them to repent, to return to
the Lord, and really lift up their hearts and hands to God.
This is why God sends calamity, this calamity to the world,
we Christians included. It is connected
to His Gospel.
But this is also why God sent the Christ into the world, so
that we can return to God through Him.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (18)
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation: (19) that God was reconciling the world to himself
in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the
message of reconciliation. (20) We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's
behalf: Be reconciled to God. (21) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The gospel, the “good news”, is about God reconciling us
back to Him through Jesus Christ.
Our sin and rebellion against God has a penalty – death. God is both lawgiver and Judge. Our sins are judged by our holy God.
But Jesus Christ was sent so that a perfect sacrifice could
be offered for our sins, and all who put their faith in what He did for us will
be reconciled to God!
When we pray for God’s compassion, God’s mercy, and His
healing how important is it for us to have this foundational
understanding. It should not JUST be
about taking this virus away, or protecting people and healing the sick. We need to pray that men will recognize how
they have sinned and rebelled against a sovereign God, and know why God sent
Jesus Christ to die for our sins. This
should be the foundational cry of our hearts.
When all this is over, where will our hearts be? Will it be “back to normal”, or will it be a
life knowing our Savior, and living with Him as the Lord of our life?
Sadly, God also shows us in His Word that, like men in the
time of Noah, and even Israel, many will not listen. That’s why we pray.
