Hurricane Katrina

The devices available to meteorologists in this modern age enable them to forecast the weather with remarkable accuracy. By means of information transmitted by satellites circling the globe they are able to pinpoint where barometric pressure is low and where the conditions are such that a storm appears inevitable. Once the familiar swirl of cloud forms, with the eye in its middle, it is possible to determine that a hurricane is on its way. The direction in which it is travelling, the wind speeds associated with it and where it is to make landfall may all be measured and predicted, but what men, however knowledgeable and ingenious, cannot do is to divert its course or stop it in its tracks. That prerogative belongs to the One who "looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure".

James Durham notes that, as God's understanding is infinite, He, "with one glance of his eye, takes up and sees through all things in heaven and earth . . . the winds and the weather He has weighed as in a balance, how much wind shall blow, and rain shall fall, that not a blast of wind blows, nor a drop of rain falls, but by His knowledge". Hurricane Katrina was thus under the sovereign control of Him who has "gathered the wind in His fists", who has "bound the waters in a garment" and who as the Creator incarnate once walked on a stormy Sea of Galilee, and demonstrated in doing so that He was reigning over it. Eyewitnesses exclaimed: "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!" The same Person is now exalted at the right hand of God, all power having been given Him in heaven and in earth. Before Him "all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" We fear that few acknowledge His hand in what are generally referred to as being no more than "natural disasters".

The hurricane that devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area did not arrive without warning. Its approach was detected days before it arrived, and those tracking its progress, aware of its intensity, warned those in its path to move inland. Many did so and, when the hurricane hit the coastline, they were safe; others, some of them unable to move, remained where they were, and it is estimated that up to 10 000 of them perished. It is solemn and staggering to think that so many of our fellow creatures were removed from time to eternity as a result of this dispensation of providence. All who perished possessed never-dying souls. It is not for us to know or presume which of the two spheres of eternal existence they were ushered into; that would have depended on their individual relationship to Christ at death. But we do know that our times are wholly in the hands of God and that He has determined when, and in what circumstances, each individual of our race passes from time to eternity.

It is not, however, presumption on our part to endeavour to relate to Scripture what has happened to that area of the Gulf of Mexico coastline. As already noted, it is clear that God is sovereign in all His dispensations. "To everything," we read, "there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven". Shall we view the spectacle of a devastated city, 60% of it flooded by toxic water, and many of its buildings reduced to rubble, and not be still and know that He is God? "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" New Orleans was apparently a city where the entertainment industry flourished. Along the stretch of coastline devastated there were over a dozen casinos whose rubble was left in the wake of the hurricane - some of them, it is said, simply carried off their foundations in a most awesome manner.

President Bush came on the scene and spoke of restoration and the creation anew of "a magnificent coastline", with no doubt even more attractive and glittering casinos and haunts of pleasure, but no mention of the fact that there is a God who has declared: "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

By this visitation, the Lord's voice is not only calling unto this city but unto the inhabitants of the earth. If we are wise, we shall "hear the rod and who hath appointed it". How hard of hearing the children of men are!

It is indicative of the scale of the disaster that a national day of prayer has been appointed. That, in itself, is a hopeful sign, but the President, in announcing it, merely said that it was "in remembrance". We take that to mean in remembrance of those that died, but what good will that achieve? What is desirable is the proclamation of a day of humiliation and prayer, and we believe that those who are truly God-fearing throughout the United States will keep this day as such. We only wish that our Queen and political leaders would call for such a day to be held throughout the UK to plead that divine judgements might be staved off. At present we as a people are patently under the woe pronounced on such as "draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope". As in Judah of old, what is observable is obstinate perseverance in sin among young and old as if they wished to provoke divine judgements. Shall we continue to sow the wind and not in due time reap the whirlwind?

JM