It seemed like a regular day at the beach.

When the blasts of billions of tons of water wrecked the coasts of twelve Asian nations, most of the people on the beaches were totally unaware of looming tragedy.  In its wake this massive tsunami claimed at least 140,000 lives and left millions homeless.  It was one of the largest natural disasters in history.

Life can be like that.  Suddenly, without warning, you’re hit with a torrent of trouble.  Like the Psalmist you cry, “All Your waves and billows have gone over me” (Psa. 42:7). 

How can you survive life’s sudden tsunamis?  Let’s look first at how we should respond to nature’s tsunamis and other large-scale disasters.  Then let’s see how to survive floodtides of trouble that sometimes invade our lives without warning.

 

Thinking It Through

 

Calamities prompt us to ask, “Why?”  There are no pat answers.  A complete answer will come in heaven when all our questions will be fully resolved by our Father who loves us.  Until then we may not be able to understand why such tragedies occur, but it’s important that we anchor our attitudes in Scripture.  Here are several heart attitudes we should maintain.  

1. Show compassion.  Christians need to be the first responders in any crisis.  God’s heart is for people.  Every human being should feel a natural humanitarian impulse to help.  But compassion is compounded in us as believers because “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 5:5). The Bible calls us to identify with those who suffer.  We are to “weep with those who weep”  (Ro. 12:15).  

Christians should lead the world in responding to human need – and we do.  It is a dazzling testimony when Christians rush to meet the needs of all who suffer, no matter what their faith.  At the same time other religions are often sluggish in aiding their own adherents, if they respond at all.  Our love speaks volumes.  Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).

2. Be slow to judge.  In the wake of the Asian tsunami I heard some Christians say this was God’s judgment on non-Christian nations.  That is for God to determine, not us.  It is true that many of the hardest-hit nations in this tsunami have been some of the most vicious in their persecution of Christians.  Still, we need to remember that many Christians as well lost their lives in this disaster. 

We seem to need a place to pin the blame for tragedies we cannot understand.  This was the case when the disciples saw a blind man and immediately assumed his condition was because of someone’s sin.  “Who sinned,” they asked Jesus, “this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus replied that the man’s blindness was not because of the man’s sin or his parents’ (Jn. 9:1-3).  It is mankind’s great thief, the devil, who comes “to steal, kill and destroy” (Jn. 10:10).

3. Be quick to repent.  Too often we cast aspersions on others without examining our own hearts.  It was a common belief in Jesus’ day that the men who suffered sudden death when a tower fell on them were worse sinners than others.  Jesus rejected such twisted reasoning.  “Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Lu. 13:5).  These are tough words from our Lord.  But they call us to examine our own hearts before we judge the spiritual condition of others.

4. Remember that the earth is under the curse of sin.  Not only did man fall with Adam’s sin but the earth itself was affected.  The Bible says that the world “groans and labors in birth pangs” (Ro. 8:22).  The result is the actual shifting of the earth that produces natural disasters.  The fact is, our planet is not yet restored.  We look toward Christ’s coming rule when there will be “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pe. 3:13).

5. See natural disasters as a “wake-up call.”  Jesus promised there would be an increase in natural convulsions just prior to His return.  These phenomena would include “earthquakes in many parts of the world” (Mt. 24:7 NLT).  Life’s sudden tsunamis call us to “prepare to meet your God.”

 

Responding with Love

 

How should we respond to large-scale human disasters? 

1. Pray for those who suffer.  Just as the earthquake in Sumatra caused tsunamis hundreds of miles away, your prayers can reverberate to the ends of the earth.  A. J. Gordon said, “I can close my closet door [in prayer] and as surely spend an hour for God in India as if I were physically there.”  The Bible says to “open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die” (Prov. 31:8).  Your prayers can truly make a world of difference.

2. Give generously.  One way to show heart-felt compassion is by giving to help alleviate suffering.  When disasters strike, we honor the Lord by giving financially to Christian relief organizations that provide humanitarian aid to the victims.   Compassion is measured in tangible ways such as giving and volunteering to help meet the needs of the victims of calamities.  “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).

3. Pray that God will use this tragedy to bring people to Him.   Many survivors are groping for answers and their old religious allegiances bring them no comfort.  In tragedy’s aftermath many hearts are open to Jesus.  He is the great “shelter in the time of storm.”  (See Psa. 61:2-3.)

4. Recommit to the urgency of evangelism.  Suddenly lives can be snatched into eternity.  This should press us to do all we can while we can to reach people for Christ.  There is always a holy imperative in evangelism and missions.  “Night is coming when no one can work” (Jn. 9:4). 

 

Riding Out the Waves of Trouble

 

There are some “tsunamis” that literally hit home.  Sudden shock waves jar us, pulling us against our will into a sea of trouble.  Suddenly you feel overwhelmed with horrible circumstances.  The tranquility of your life is disrupted and you wonder if things will ever be the same as they were.  There are clear preparations you can take to survive life’s tsunamis. 

1. Be sure your “house” is built on the rock of faith and obedience to Jesus Christ.  Jesus warned that waves of trouble will come.  But you can prepare by securing your life to Christ, the solid rock.  Jesus said, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Mt. 7:24-25).

2. Anchor to what doesn’t move.  God promised, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”  He guarantees “the removal of those things that are being shaken” in order that “the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”  We have embraced an unshakeable kingdom.  “Therefore . . . let us be thankful, and so worship God with reverence and awe.  For our God is a consuming fire” (He. 12:26-29 NIV).

3. Remember that your Christ is greater than your crisis.  You may feel completely overwhelmed.  Right now you may identify with this lament that perfectly describes life’s tsunamis: “The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves” (Psa. 93:3 NIV). 

No matter how massive the waves may be, let your heart cling to the next verse.  It’s the master key to surviving life’s tsunamis: “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Psa. 93:4).

Christ is still in control.  His single command of “Peace, be still!” will calm the most violent storms of your life.  So live in His peace.  Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”  (Jn. 14:27).

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and thought the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled . . . Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psa. 46:1-2, 10).