When
I read about this, it made me wonder, as it might make anyone wonder:
Why
did God allow the historic mining town of Greenville California to be destroyed
by a devastating wildfire?
Was
it because the people had become so unrepentantly sinful and rebellious towards
their Maker that He had no choice but to judge them?
[I
am not saying that such was the case. I don’t
even know what the spiritual and moral climate of Greenville was]
Or
was it because we simply live in a fallen world beset by catastrophe due to the
sin of Adam which resulted in a curse upon all of creation which has led to all
kinds of hardship, adversity, pain, suffering, grief, and sorrow by which all
of us, along with the rest of creation have been victimized? What has happened to Greenville has not been
the first time in history that a town, city, or even an entire nation, has
either been wiped out of existence or has simply faded away.
And
when we witness something like that happens your heart goes out to the
inhabitants thereof and even breaks over their suffering because everything that
they have ever worked for and have built seems to be gone and all that they
have built up is turned to dust, and they are devastated over the losses that
they have sustained, but at the same time, you cannot help but wonder if there
might have been a divine reason for the disaster that ended them as a community
or nation after reading about how the in the days of Noah the evil of the world
became so great that God had to destroy it with a flood, (Gen. 6-8) the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, (Gen. 18-19) of the Canaanite
peoples and the Amalekites at the hands of the people of Israel, and then the
diaspora that was inflicted upon them as well when their evil became too great,
and even from history itself, the fading away and downfall of once great
empires and civilizations.
But
not every demise suffered by a nation or community is necessarily because the
people of that nation or community were wicked nor an act of divine wrath. Such events can also be the result of the
wickedness of this present world.
In
the case of the men of Shalem, Simeon and Levi, two of the sons of the
patriarch Jacob, from whose line the people of Israel descend, killed the men
of the city out needless vengeance.
Granted that the son of its ruler had made a mistake, but he sought to
make it right with Jacob’s family but Levi and Simeon killed the men of the city
any way. (Gen. 34)
In
this particular case, the tragedy that befell the men of Shalem was not an act
of God, but an act of men who were consumed by an ungodly vengeance as is made
clear when Jacob cursed Simeon and Levi for their unnecessary wrath (Gen.
49:5-7)
And
again, in the case of the Gibeonites and the people of the city of Nob, which
was a city of priests who served the Lord, who were slain by king Saul, not
because they themselves had done anything evil.
They were simply the unfortunate victims of evil rage. (1 Sam. 21-22, 2
Sam. 21:1)
But
when things like this do happen, everyone affected in some way or another has a
choice to make: They can either examine
themselves before Almighty God and humbly fall upon their faces and acknowledge
that they have sinned and fallen short of His glory, (Rom. 3:23) and confess
that He is just in all things or they can harden their hearts and lash out at
Him and continue in their defiance of Him even unto their own final destruction
and eventual eternal damnation.
But
what I find to be the most tragic is when those beset by tragic circumstances
harden their hearts against their Creator rather than humble themselves before
Him and worse even still is when they who have professed faith in God fall away
from Him when beset by adversity to the point of sealing their fate, and there
is going to come a time when God will judge and punish the world for its
wickedness and instead of repenting, mankind will curse God who made them because
of the judgments being afflicted upon them having already sold themselves over
to Satan (Rev. 16:8-11, 21) and they will do so to their final destruction and
to the damnation of their very souls.
But
a day is also coming when a world will arise that will be devoid of tragedy and
cataclysm for there shall be no curse upon it because in it will dwell no sin
and the sentence of death will be abolished because all of these things will
pass away with this present world so warped, corrupt, defiled, and twisted by
the sin of man and the darkness of those wicked powers and principalities that
have dominion in it.
It
will be the perfect world that God intended it to be when He first created the
Heavens and the Earth before sin entered in by the disobedience of the first
man Adam when he had partaken in that which was forbidden to him (Gen. 2:16-17,
Gen. 3) at which point sin entered into him and death became the sentence upon
him and from Adam, inherent sin was passed down to all of humanity and
therefore all men sin and because all men sin, all men die, just as Adam died
(Rom. 5:12) because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) but along with sin
and the sentence of death came a curse upon all of creation (Rom. 8:19-22) subjecting
it to every kind of cataclysm, tumult, hardship, struggle, and suffering that
there ever has been or could be.
Sin
is not merely an act. It is a condition
that corrupts, distorts, perverts, defiles, and twists that which God has
created from that which He designed to be and because it taints everything it
touches. Sin affects more than we can
comprehend and because of its far-reaching effects, God cannot allow in His
Kingdom that which is sinful or that in which sin dwells and it is the reason why
judgment has come upon those nations and communities in whom sin has reached a
certain measure and it is the reason why this present world will pass away by
fire (2 Pet. 3:10) and replaced with a world in which there is no sin nor anything
to cause hardship, misery, suffering, pain, grief, or evil of any sort. (Rev.
21-22)
But
if there is any prayer that can be offered up on behalf of the citizens of
Greenville CA, is that they will not harden their hearts against their Maker,
but instead take some time to consider and examine themselves before Him, throw
themselves at His mercy and trust Him to sustain them through this difficult
time because in the face of such a tragedy such as that, that is really all
anyone can do and if they resolve to call upon His name, then I pray that God
will look down upon them in mercy graciously restore their community and
replace all that they have lost.
And
though we live in a world subject to tragedy, disaster, and cataclysms, God has
promised a new and better world to come in which exists no tragedy for in that
world, there will be nothing to cause pain, suffering, grief, or sorrow because
our Creator does not take pleasure in those things that are evil or hurtful in
any way, but only in those things that bring joy, happiness, peace, unity, and
harmony and today, because He is not willing that any should perish (2 Pet.
3:9) He has provided on our behalf redemption and the forgiveness of sin through
His Son, Jesus Christ, who being without sin (2 Cor. 5:21) was made that
perfect required sacrifice needed to take away the sins of the world (Heb.
4:15) which He did through His death on the cross to which He was nailed and by
His resurrection from the dead so that we might be made justified in Him (Rom.
4:25)
In
Him are our souls cleansed from the sin into which we are born and made
reconciled to the Father in Heaven from whom we were made estranged because of
sin and just as our souls are liberated from the damnation and separation from
God to which sin subjected us, so our bodies too will one day be liberated from
the bondage of death itself when these corruptible forms of ours are changed
into forms incorruptible and in which dwells no sin (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess.
4:13-18) for where there is no sin, there is no death. And finally, creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage when it is made anew.
But
today, God is calling every one of us to be restored in Him. If you should sense His call upon you in any
way, do not harden your heart, but call upon the name of Jesus today and turn
from your sins that you may be forgiven and receive eternal life and salvation
in Him and be transformed into the person you were meant to be:
"Lord
Jesus I need you.
I
realize that I am a sinner
who
has fallen short of the glory of God
and
that my goodness falls short
of
your standard of Moral perfection.
Please
forgive me of all of my sins.
Come
into my heart and into my life
to
be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make
me into the servant and follower
that
you want me to be.
In
your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know
that God is not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him
forgiveness, but with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all
sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in
Him only for your salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven
and your place in Heaven is certain.
End
notes:
1. Johnathan Vigliotti, “’We lost Greenville’:
Dixie Fire incinerates historic California town,”
CBS
News, August 6, 2021
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenville-california-dixie-fire/
Scripture references:
1.
Genesis 6-8
2.
Genesis 18-19
3.
Genesis 34
4.
Genesis 49:5-7
5.
1 Samuel 21-22
6.
2 Samuel 21:1
7. Revelation 16:8-11, 21
8. Genesis 2:16-17
9.
Genesis 3
10. Romans
5:12
11.
Romans 6:23
12.
Romans 8:19-22
13. 2
Peter 3:10
14.
Revelation 21-22
15. 2
Peter 3:9
16. 2
Corinthians 5:21
17.
Hebrews 4:15
18.
Romans 4:25
19. 1
Corinthians 15:51-55
20. 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18
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