When the ground beneath you shakes – S.K Magar
The incident report displayed on Nepal disaster risk reduction portal as of 23 June 2015 puts the total human death toll to 8,832 with the number of injured at 22,309 resulting from the great Gorkha earthquake on 25 April 2015 with it’s epicentre as Barpak of the same district from where the earthquake of 7.8 magnitude got it’s it’s name in Nepal.
Many in Nepali Christendom claim that out of these total 8,832 precious lives lost so far a little over 750 in number while living subscribed or embraced Christian faith however the number could either go up or move down upon the careful individual and institutional verification. No matter what the statistics say it is sad that Nepalese throughout Nepal have died and suffered in such a huge number owing to the catastrophic event on 25 April 2015. The news of anyone’s death especially owing to the natural disaster have never been good and if we sport a faith based on the Bible we look forward to a glorious day ‘….when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out…..’ John 5:28, 29 NIV
Personally speaking, like most in the nation; I and my family too suffered from this great tremor and the frequent shakings occurring after 25 April 2015. We are grateful to God and many friends who prayed for us that we are still alive to this day. We are no better than the ones who died and they were not worse than those who are alive till today. God’s power no doubt stopped the tremor from claiming more lives than what was predicted by the experts previously. We all need to appreciate this fact and move on with united strength and mutual respect for each other.
The church building where I was on worship that day along with other fellow believers is one of the poorest structure in that locality but wonder of wonders God showered his grace to the sinful souls like us that we and our neighbours are still alive to see this day. We truly feel sorry for the fellow citizens who lost their lives and the loved ones they left are continuously in our prayers.
Something that caught my attention after the earthquake and it’s aftermath is the great deal of unity and supportive attitude shown by the Nepalese in Nepal as well as from around the world along with the friends of Nepal and Nepali government to help Nepal in God’s grace to rise up and get it going again. It was a great sight to behold the walls of colour, caste, creed and economic status vanish at least momentarily. But sadly there were other things not so pleasant to the eyes and ears as well with the people slowly losing their patience and temperament. However it is understandable that a desperate situation gives a way to desperate cry and such desperate problems like these one brought by the mighty quake also demands real hefty solutions. The purpose of this article today is not to focus on who said what? Who behaved in what manner? rather it is to shift attention to a glaring fact that many in times like these try to find solace in blaming God for the trouble they face. It was an appalling site to see some of the eminent writer pen their thoughts making mockery of God citing Him as someone not able to save His people worshiping Him that day he set apart as holy at creation. But then when carefully looked into, such thoughts stem out from not so clear understanding about God and His dealing with His creatures.
Well I don’t’ mean to claim here that ‘I know everything’. There are still many things I don’t know or understand and in such times I just go back to the first few chapters of the book of Job to see the glimpse of the great controversy between God and Satan which many understand as the conflict between the good and evil forces.
When we carefully see and read through the Bible we come to an understanding that the Creator God who manifested himself in the person of Jesus Christ on earth is not a cruel God who loves to kill and destroy people rather He is a loving Father who loved us enough to give us his only begotten Son (John 3:16). I am not stating that we can live a life of sin. That is not the issue here.
There are some who pick certain verses single handily and twist it to interpret as to advocate the fact that God is a cruel God who brings earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, landslides etc to torture and kill people on earth.
Well it is right that the earthquake is considered as one of the initial signs in the nature preceding His glorious second advent but it necessarily does not mean that he is doing this to kill people and animals.
God’s heart cry is and always has been is to save people and not destroy people. Lets us look at these verse.
‘…..For whywill you die,O houseof Israel?’’-Ezekiel 18: 31 NASB
‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; …..’.-Isaiah 45:22 NIV
Well we have been receiving the aftershocks and perhaps are very scared too so I am ending this piece of writing today with a promise of God to Baruch via prophet Jeremiah:
‘….I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.-Jeremiah 45:5 NASB
This verse has been offering courage to me and my family and I hope and pray that you too find hope amidst these moments of aftershocks by reading through many such promises of safety recorded in the holy and never failing eternal Word of truth.
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