By September 1, 2005, government leaders were unanimous in warning citizens of New Orleans that a once in a lifetime storm was on the way. EVACUATE! Most did. A few thousand did not. The loss of life and property from one of the worst storms in history totaled hundreds of lives and billions of dollars. Immediately the country was engulfed in controversy, of blaming and shaming. Someone had to take the blame for the toll. The President, the Governor, the Mayor, and the Director of the nation’s emergency services were roundly criticized. God also received a few licks, mostly by innuendo. An eminent columnist wrote: How could there be any intelligent design in nature, when there was such wanton death and destruction by a storm that no one believed to be design? Some Christian speakers did not help the cause of God when they made speculative statements about God’s judgments, and the lifestyle of some citizens of the area. One declared that the storm came to disrupt a major convention of persons supporting the interests of homosexuals. The minister did not really know what he was talking about, even if his speculations somewhere found credence. Storms occur in common grace, and will continue.
Speculation does not take away any foreign spiritual meaning of the storm. This storm, and other natural calamities, may have important spiritual meaning. We may miss it because of the arrogance, the ignorance, the lack of humility, the inclination to communicate an insight, on the part of advocates for God. Why do we miss the call for humility and meaning? Those most likely to miss the order and meaning are humanists. They do not, and feel they cannot, believe in intelligent design. To believe so is to posit God. They do not want to do that, so logically resist design options. Storms belong to God’s design for planets hurtling through space. So we adapt.
How about trying to find divine meaning in disaster? Prophetic writers were stern in their statements about God at work in nature. Isaiah stated that God can be angered, to the extent that he would topple trees. Noah got a flood – by design. We have difficulty in conjuring the image of God taken with holy anger that permits human beings to drown – especially innocent children. God will never be understood without including his anger in the debate. Storms (messy) are integral to the design, a design that incorporates large meaning. Further, we have forewarnings that help mute nature’s ferocity. Follow a path in the jungle, but if not there will be unwanted consequences. Get out of the designed but violated city, as Lot did at Sodom. Storm is in the design, and may be necessary to the design. Erasure clears space for restating the initial plan. God promises restoration related to righteousness. Those many who insist on self alone in God’s creation, should not believe that matters will be tranquil, or at the least, less violent than they are. We use unintelligent design in building a city at or below sea level, and are surprised and/or offended when it floods after sea walls are neglected. We shy from guilt. Or, we may even be angry with God for not being. The world will not flourish on such premises. What happens when mankind forces things? According to reports, the most common activity by those trapped in disaster is prayer. Afterwards they respond, Thank God, we were rescued. God is in storms and recoveries. Intelligent design has larger meaning than our limits about design. God is willing to take responsibility for storms. Recently, drought has ravished much of the country, and the East coast has had a devastating storm equal to New Orleans’ Katrina storm. It is part of design, but my daily prayer is rightly focused for recovery. We crumple a piece of paper and toss it. God sometimes crumples earth, and we recover – but what have we learned? *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020