Why Would He Do That??

We live in a world that is occasionally marred by tragedies, both natural and not, that shift the way we life. The one that most would say comes to mind is 9/11 and also Hurricane Katrina. These events allow for people to reflect, count their blessings, and adapt to a new situation. After events as these, there are inevitably those who ask, "How could God let this happen?" I am reading a book currently called The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. He briefly brought up this situation in one of his chapters and I thought it was a good twist on the question.

I think what people should be asking instead is "Why did we let this happen?" Maybe God is showing us how messed up our world still is and we need to take further steps to improve it all the time. There are always warning signs before terrible tragedies and if we ignore them, and many times that is the case, then what else can He do? I'm reminded of the story about the many who was in his house and a great flood came.

Before the flood comes, a man in a truck stops by at the house of another and asks him if he needs a ride to safety, the man replies, "No thank you, I am a praying man, a Christian and I believe God will protect and save me." Eventually the water rises and a boat comes by and asks the man if he would like to float to safety with them. The man replies, "No thank you, I am a praying man, a Christian and I believe God will protect and save me." The water floods his entire house and the man is on his roof when a helicopter comes by and asks him if he would like to be saved and flown to safety. The man replies with the same sentence as he gave the previous two rescuers. The man drowns and when he gets to Heaven he asks God, "I pray every day, live life as best I can to praise and believe in you, why didn't you save me?" God replies, "I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what the heck were you waiting for?"

God knows about the tragedies that are going to strike us, and not being cruel, I believe He does His best to try and warn us about them before they get here. Whether we take heed of what He is trying to tell us will determine how severe the damage is. There are many issues facing the world right now and people know they exist but what is being done? Are these issues even being taken seriously? Global Warming is often scoffed at, but whether or not it is true, shouldn't we be trying to make our planet a healthier and cleaner place to live anyway? Let us not put all blame on God for tragedies. If there is something amiss the first person to look at when determining how to change something is yourself. There may be things that are definitely out of our control and some things we have no knowledge of, but what happens when we do have that knowledge could determine what happens next.