I thought it timely to comment on the recent events in Haiti. Chapter 7 in my book details the plight of the poor. Right now we need to pray and send basic life support as well as cash to these grief stricken people.
Please pray for healing and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Pray that the relief agencies are able to supply enough of these four essentials: WATER-FOOD-SHELTER-MEDICAL SUPPLIES and TREATMENT. Pray that the government and aid organizations maintain order. And pray for an outpouring of love, compassion and mercy, even to the ends of the earth.
I am posting the following message which I preached this day. I trust it will be helpful for all in understanding the misfortunes of life.
Natural Disasters, Tragedies, & Misfortunes Revisited
Trinity Family Life Center
24 January 2010
Introduction
In light of the horrendous devastation of last week in Haiti with the Earthquake, I felt like it would be appropriate to address how one deals with such loss and destruction from a Christian perspective. I would like to set a kind of context, a grid for helping us process this event
Let me say that the unexplainable intersects our lives many times before we die. We are left to grapple with sudden destruction, tragedies, unexplained misfortunes and the like. I suppose if we had everything laid out neatly before us, we would not need faith. But on the other end of the spectrum, dismissing a tragedy with sweeping statements of condemnation is hardly the heart of God either.
That is exactly what Pat Robertson did when he said that Haiti was under a “divine curse” because they had “made a deal with the Devil”, at some earlier point in their history.
Miles Munroe on his blog repudiated this statement and called Robertson on the carpet to “withdraw his statements and make a public apology to the suffering Haitian people especially the Haitian Christian community around the world who need our support at this devastating time and not our condemnation.” I agree!
God makes it emphatically clear in Ezek.18:22-23, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? And verse 32: “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. [NIV]
Biblical Pictures
We look at Job’s experience and see that sometimes the unusual becomes our experience. [explain] In Job 42:3, he admits he did not have the answers. So he repents and casts himself on the God of history. Not a bad place to wind up. In the end he received double what he had before.
In Matt. 2:18, there was weeping and wailing in Ramah on the death of all the infants killed by Herod in his search for the baby Jesus. Imagine processing that tragedy!
In Luke 13, the Tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people in a kind of random event. Jesus asked were these worse offenders than all the others that dwelt in Jerusalem? No but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Num.16:1, and Korah’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron. How about that one where the ground opened up a swallowed them whole. At least there is some context to that. Or the plagues of Egypt or a number of other Biblical disasters through history. None of this is easy to talk about, but if you don’t have some context with the Lord, you really are left hanging. My purpose in this today is to give some context to this horrendous event.
Birth Pangs
First of all I believe this Earthquake represents birth pangs. Paul says in Romans 8 that the creation “was subjected to futility, and that it will be set free from its bondage to decay.” The Bible clearly points to an escalation of these kinds of events prior to the coming of the Lord. As people of Biblical faith we must understand this. In fact the scripture details at least 12 major categories of distress prior to the coming of the Lord. They are: Deceptions
Wars and Rumors of Wars
Famines
Pestilences
Earthquakes
Anti-Christian & anti-Semitic movements
Betrayals
Increased hatred
False prophets
Lawlessness/violence
Gospel received in the whole world
Increase in Satanic influence
We are living in end-times. There is overwhelming agreement from the evangelical and prophetic side of the church on this issue. These are the “birth pangs of the day of the Lord.” Why is it so difficult for us to believe that we are living in times the Bible has prophesied? Those who embraced Jesus believed they were living in times the Bible had predicted. [e.g. Simeon, Anna, Elizabeth, Mary, Herod] Their prophetic perspective gave context to their journey. If they hadn’t our history would be very different today.
There is no question this is one of the biggest tragedies of our lifetime. One two hundred thousand dead, Millions homeless. How can one even imagine the destruction? It’s horrible. What are we to think?
Context For Understanding This Event—What Can We Do?
We need to give money and prayer to this event. If everyone did something, it would make a huge difference. Obviously we cannot bring back the dead. But we can help the living. In this global village we live in our actions will have force and function.
We need to make the most of each day and the relationships that God has given us. Matt. 6:25 says, “Do not worry about your life—or what you will eat or drink….do not worry about tomorrow….each day has enough trouble of its own.” In other words, stay focused. Thank God for what you have. This event sure puts a measly power outage in proper perspective.
Maintain fellowship with the Lord and with God’s people. We need one another. It is God’s way. The Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.
Be willing to be used by God in unexpected ways. Be ready to go when He says go, give when He says give. It is time to step up to the plate. The time is short. Let us work while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work! Scripture says that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. Do what you can do with the days that God gives you.
In the grand scheme of things this is temporary. There are spiritual realities based on the word of God that carry more weight than the physical trials and tumults that besiege us in life. 1Cor.13, says—“Now we look into a mirror dimly but then face to face. Now we see in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Use this as an opportunity to evangelize and challenge others into being ready at a moments notice to die and be with the Lord. Are they saved? Are you saved?
Finally, Haiti is on display right now. The world is going to see the compassion of God poured out in this disaster and God is going to get Glory!
—In addition, in the spiritual it is God’s time for Haiti. We need to pray that officials at all levels of government in Haiti would formally and officially invite Jesus Christ to be Lord of Haiti. That they would dedicate the nation of Haiti to the glory of God and welcome prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the effort to establish their government, business, schools, families, and the arts and media.
Revival could come out of all of this mess. Haiti could rise up and declare the Lord of Heaven and Earth sovereign over the Island. All the ends of the earth could be touched and blessed as God apprehends this people for His Glory!
Conclusion
There is a final reckoning coming when the King of the universe is going to redeem us completely from the effects and misfortunes of this present realm. We must remember that as Christians, we are citizens of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. We must focus on the Lord and His place of supremacy in the heavenly places. We abide in the presence of God and we overcome evil with good. The enemy will do his best to try to destabilize the world in order to destabilize the church. We must understand that. Let us be wiser than the enemy