The untold human heartache and tragedy of this last week due to the Hurricane Katrina breaks our hearts. Those of us who helped out in the flood relief, in seeing the devastation that affected those around us, know in some small way how these people must feel and what they must be going through. We need to be on our knees daily praying to our Heavenly Father for them and then acting and working for those we can help, both here in this area and there on the Gulf Coast.

At times like these, one of the greatest lessons for the Christian to realize is that God is in control of all things. There is nothing that takes God by surprise; there is nothing that He is not aware of and there is nothing that He cannot handle. Often, however, men try to put God in the place of men, and think that there are some things that God cannot handle. This shows our desire to make God in our image, rather than us being lifted up to His.

God is in control of government. He lifts up and brings down kings (Daniel 4-5) and is in control of the governments of men. He allows some evil and wicked governments to exist, but He even uses them to carry out His will (as in the case of Babylon being used to punish His people, Israel—Habakkuk). He punishes the governments of men when they sin against Him, and He will not long tolerate sin from any people. As with the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Amorites and others—there comes a point where God says, “enough!” and punishes those who sin against Him.

Some have looked at this hurricane as a punishment from God. Without the benefit of prophecy today, we cannot say with certainty that this is a direct punishment from God for evil. Some have argued that the reason hurricanes have been battering us lately, is because of global warming, and God allowing the earth to punish us for destroying it (again, the debate will be had for many years to come, because there is evidence on one side that the earth is warming, and on the other side, that this is just a cycle that naturally happens over the years). We can argue, debate and try to determine what God is doing, but the lesson that we need to learn, like Job, is that God knows what He is doing and we simply need to believe in Him.

Further, it is my conviction that, as with the flood in this area, God wants His people to be a light to the world in compassion and in faith. He wants us to show the love and compassion of Christ to those who are in need and to do what we can to help these in any way we can. He wants us to look to Him in faith and trust, with a smile on our face and rejoicing in our hearts, to show the world that there is hope in Him. We have seen it in the lives of those intimately affected by tragedy—the world needs to see it in US!

We have unprecedented opportunities before us right now—let us avail ourselves of them and be the light to the world God needs for us to be.