There is much talk in Florida about why Hurricanes take the paths they take, and why certain areas are spared much devastation.  The temptation of such conversations is to say that spiritual climate directs the hurricanes.  The conclusion of such conversations is often harmful to the cause of Christ, because either directly or indirectly it is concluded that the evil are the ones who get hit.  If those who pray more or better prayers do not get hit by the hurricane, then those who get hit do not pray enough.  The Christian community then begins to sound like Job’s friends who tried to convince him that his sin was the reason for his storms of life.  This was just not true of Job however, and he defended his integrity in the face of his friends’ false accusations.

Christians should not assume on God’s motives and activity.  We should instead focus on what we do know about God as revealed in the Bible.  We know with absolute certainty that God is “A just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:21).  God has gone way above and beyond fairness by having mercy on us through His perfect Son’s crucifixion.  In God’s justice He is going to judge the world, but He has given us thousands of years of warnings and opportunities to repent and be saved from the wrath to come.  The paths of Hurricanes are by nature unpredictable, but God has allowed the human mind the wisdom to develop radar systems that can track storms.  Maybe we should cease trying to figure out why some people are hit and some are not hit, and thank God for the warnings that are given for Floridians to take cover.  As we say often at Green Pond Baptist Church,  “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.”