agrogersThere have been terrible floods here in Myanmar recently. One pastor from Chin State where the flooding has been particularly bad has declared that the floods are God’s judgment on the people of Chin state (who are mostly Christian) for their lack of zeal for the Lord and partial embrace of Buddhism.
I can’t comment on why the floods have come at this time. But I think it is possible to affirm Biblically that the floods have indeed come from God and are a judgment from Him.
This idea is completely abhorrent to some. But if God is in control of all things OR if God knew how all things would turn out, then these floods and all other disasters are ultimately ordained by Him.
God sent the Greatest Flood
Gen 6:17 NKJV And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
2Pe 2:4-5 NKJV For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
Rain is always attributed to the direct action of God
God explicitly states that He is the Giver of rain
Job 38:25-28 NKJV [God speaking of Himself] “Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, 26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; 27 To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? 28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Rain is never attributed to the working of evil powers and idols cannot give rain
Jer 14:22 NKJV Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for You, Since You have made all these.
God gives rain to the evil and the good
Mat 5:45 NKJV that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The absence of rain is always attributed to the direct action of God
2Ch 7:13 NKJV When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,
Historically, the Lord punishes mankind through the storms
Eze 13:13 NKJV Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it.
Nah 1:2-3 NKJV God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
Jon 1:4 NKJV But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
Exo 10:13 NKJV So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Exo 14:21 NKJV Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
God sends storms
Psa 48:7 NKJV As when You break the ships of Tarshish With an east wind.
Isa 27:8 NKJV In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind In the day of the east wind.
Jer 10:13 NKJV When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
Psa 78:26 NKJV He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; And by His power He brought in the south wind.
Arguments by others
Floods are a judgment of God
Floods are not a judgment of God
Jack Hayford’s comments.
Gen. 1:31 Before the fall. Foundations of the Kingdom.
The original order of man’s environment on Earth must be distinguished from what it became following the impact of man’s Fall, the Curse, and the eventual Deluge.(Is. 45:18; Rom:8:20; 2 Pet.3:4-7).
The agricultural, zoological, geographical, and meteorological disharmony to which creation became subject must not be attributed to God.
The perfect will of God, as founding King of creation, is NOT manifest in the presence of death, disease, discord, and disaster any more than it is manifest in human sin.
Our present world does not reflect the kingdom order He originally intended for man’s enjoyment on Earth, nor does it reflect God’s Kingdom as it shall ultimately be experienced on this planet.
Understanding this, we should be cautious not to attribute to “God’s will” or to “Acts of God” those characteristics of our world that resulted from the ruin of God’s original order by reason of man’s fall.
