As soon as the story began to unfold last Tuesday evening, the wheels in my head began to turn. For four days I have beheld the images of destruction plastered on every screen and front page. I have read both tragic statistics and individual accounts. And I have glimpsed into the desperate eyes of hopeless victims- hundreds of miles away from my own reality. Yet, only hundreds of miles away. And I have wrestled with one question.
Why Haiti?
Why did such unfathomable suffering and calamity have to fall on a people that were already doing all they could just to survive? They don’t deserve this! I protested. They had nothing. Why, God, would you allow the course of nature to take even that?
I have not allowed myself to ask with doubt or any expectation of an explanation that my finite mind would be able to understand. I know, I know, God is still who He says He is in His word. He is compassionate, He is sovereign, He loves with a steadfast love, He is just, and “He does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.” (Lam. 3:33) And though it seems that Tuesday’s events seem inconsistent with those characteristics, it really all comes down to the choice of belief- belief that God always acts like God.
The story headlines seem only to be getting more discouraging each day as a myriad of complications are exposed and estimations turn into statistics. When I begin to imagine what the vastness of the loss, devastation, and chaos might look, feel, and sound like, I find myself wishing so badly that all of this is just a dream. If only I could close my eyes and open them five seconds later to behold a gloriously restored and stable country in which every wound was healed, every heart was at peace, and every stomach was filled. In light of the fact that New Orleans is still being put back together five years after hurricane Katrina, I have no desire at all to even mull over what kind of overhaul and rebuilding process is in store for Haiti. And that is just buildings. What about the people? How many wives and husbands were lost? How many children are now orphans? The mountain of grief and bewilderment that will continue to rise out of millions of individual realities is one that we could never even begin to calculate.
Nevertheless, my conclusion remains the same.
God is compassionate. God is sovereign. God is loving. God is just.
And believe it or not, there are Haitians right in the middle of Port-au-Prince who are still believing and clinging to those same unchanging truths. As soon as I was able Tuesday night, I logged onto my computer and went to CNN‘s website. I skimmed through the different headlines, unsure of what information I wanted to read first. Which news do you want first? The bad news or the worse news? But then my eye caught a headline that said something about Haitians heard singing and praying. The story reported that in the midst of the sudden chaos when desperate cries for help began to rise out of the debris, and when screams of anguish came from every direction, yet another sound arose from the wreckage- singing and prayers lifted up to the Creator of the very earth that had just shaken their lives to the core.
I don’t know exactly what they were singing or praying, but I was struck by the fact that they had so quickly responded in a way that acknowledge and honored God as their only hope and the only One who would be able to get them through the days to come. It was as though it were an impulse- when an earthquake destroys, what do you do? Sing and pray to the Almighty God! Because He is still God! And if He is still God, then He is bigger than the earthquake, a Rock and a Refuge, and the God of all comfort. It reminds me of Job’s response when God allows Satan to destroy Job’s children, land, and animals:
“Then Job rose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” (Job 1:20)
Nothing had changed- God was still God.
In the middle of all the horrible news, it encouraged me so much to read this about my Haitian brothers and sisters. It also made me wonder if I would react in the same way if suddenly my world was turned upside down and everything I had was taken from me. Would I respond in a way that reflected a confidence in a God who always acts like God?
We may not be going through something as physically and emotionally devastating as a 7.0 magnitude earthquake (although it may at times feel like one), but many of us are going through trials that appear to be impossible obstacles, mountains that we had never expected God to allow into our lives. These mountains may be so contrary to everything we had ever envisioned for a certain job, relationship, ministry, or desire that it seems God has ceased be wholly Himself in our lives.
Is God still God?
We must answer honestly. Do I believe that God is still who He says He is? Do I believe that the God who is sovereign over my circumstances is the same God of the Bible? If I really do believe He is, do my thoughts, actions, attitudes, and everyday lifestyle reflect that belief?
Are we serving the same God that allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery, mercilessly thrown into a prison he didn’t belong in, and then turned the entire situation around and used it to bring Joseph to a position of power that saved his entire family?
Yes.
Are we serving the same God that allowed Satan to take everything Job possessed but then gave him back twice as much as he had before?
Yes.
Are we serving the same God who allowed David to have to sleep in caves and run for his life from Saul before sitting on the glorious throne of Israel?
Yes.
Are we serving the same God who allowed Naomi’s husband and sons to die but then used her daughter-in-law Ruth to carry on the family line?
Yes.
If we are still serving this same God, then it appears to me that we are serving a God of restoration. He comforts in the midst of pain, yes, but He also delivers. He makes all things new. He turns the bad into good. I believe that I have many Haitian brothers and sisters who have not ceased to believe in such a God. And although they are going through incredible heartbreak and pain at the same time, they trust that somehow and in some way God is going to get the glory through all of this. God is going to rebuild the brokenness, restore the shattered lives, and prove that He is still God and always God.
The verse that Jared and Jalayne Coblentz chose to put on their prayer photo before leaving Haiti could not be more fitting for the events that have unraveled around them this week:
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)
Be still, and know that God is still God, and always God. Then go and live accordingly.
