Does God Bring Disasters?

All of life and all of nature is under the authority of God. But what about the evil and suffering in the world? Today, R.C. Sproul discusses the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the reality of suffering.

God brings blessing and He brings curse. He brings good times and He brings bad times. He brings peace; He also brings conflict. He brings weal; He also brings woe. He brings prosperity or He brings calamity. So it’s not that the text is saying that God does moral evil or creates moral evil. It is saying, however, that God is the author of all of these conditions ultimately. What this passage is communicating, beloved, is the sovereignty of God over the entire creation. Note the refrain, “I am the Lord, there is none other.” 

“I am responsible for the whole of the creation, for the whole of human history. It is My divine sovereign providence that stands over all human events. I bring the abundant harvest; I also will bring the famine. I bring the sunny day; I also bring the storm. I bring the arid desert; I also bring the flood.”

And of course, now the question is, “Well, is it evil of God to be behind and in charge of and sovereignly and providentially controlling natural disasters?” Isn’t it interesting that even in our insurance policies, there are clauses for those things that are called “acts of God.” At least the insurance underwriters have some sense of sound theology at that point. Because the idea here, that the Hebrew is saying, is that all of life, all of nature is under the authority and the government of almighty God.