Over the course of the last month or so, a number of natural disasters have impacted our part of the world. Four large hurricanes (plus a couple of smaller ones) and two significant earthquakes have done immense damage to property and taken quite a few lives. It has been suggested by some – on both ends of the religious and political spectrum – that God is judging America with these horrible natural disasters. I’d like to put that into Scriptural perspective. First, God IS in control. He is fully capable of initiating natural disasters, of directing them as He sees fit, of sparing lives and taking lives. “The earth is the Lord’s…” (Psalm 24:1) and “even the winds and the sea obey Him” (Matt. 8:27). However, natural disasters have occurred since the dawn of time and they have impacted both the righteous and the wicked. “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). When it comes to the reasons for natural disasters, and the Divine purpose involved, it’s unwise to assign our reasons to God’s actions. We will have to let God be God. We don’t know all the reasons, but He does and we’ll just have to trust Him.