How should we pray when natural disasters strike?
The most important prayer is that whatever the providences of God may be, He will use them to turn people to Christ. It’s wholly appropriate that we should pray that God would turn back the fires, but beyond that, our concern is for God’s glory. If that means people are going to be awakened to think about eternal things when they’ve been consumed with the things of this world, then we pray that God will use them in such a manner.
We believe that God will use these things to make people think about what really matters and what really lasts. In fact, it’s often at such times that you’ll hear people say in response to what they have lost that it’s made them treasure the things that are really important.
This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with Sinclair Ferguson and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.
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Sinclair Ferguson
Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow, vice-chairman of Ligonier Ministries, and Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He is featured teacher for several Ligonier teaching series, including Union with Christ. He is author of many books, including The Whole Christ, Maturity, and Devoted to God's Church. Dr. Ferguson is also host of the podcast Things Unseen.
