COLUMN: Many are asking why God allowed tsunami disaster
For weeks now, the headlines continue to surface with little variation. The only thing that ever seems to change is the number. What started at 7,000 is now up to 150,000, with that number only expected to grow.
As we all watched the death toll rise and rise, one couldn’t help but ask why?
Why would an all-seeing and all-powerful God sit back and let so much suffering take place?
Why did God let such a disaster happen to innocent people?
Others might go further than just why and consider such incidents as proof of God’s lack of existence. To the truly faithful though, simply knowing that “[God’s] ways are higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:8) is sufficient. Or as the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi put it, “I know that He loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17).
Meanwhile, for the rest, doubts can easily cloud the way.
For most of us, the magnitude of such an event really hasn’t registered. Just imagine the death toll of 9/11 multiplied by 30. Even at Pearl Harbor, where 2,400 soldiers and civilians were killed, the number doesn’t come close in comparison.
But such a disaster does help the rest of us remember how precious life really is. It allows us to reexamine where we’re going and what we’re becoming. Other things that before seemed so important tend to pale in comparison to such a tragedy.
Though many doubt the help of God in any of this, one cannot deny the outreach of mankind throughout the ordeal. Countless individuals and nations have given time, money and anything else they can to help the victims in their race against time.
But as much as we try, all of us together still can’t seem to do quite enough. It is then that we, as so many have, must turn to a higher power. Sometimes it takes something as tragic as a disaster to recognize a need for help from above.
Yet, many take the opportunity to doubt or condemn God at the time we need Him most.
I do not believe in a God who enjoys the afflictions of mankind. The God I believe in is the same God who looked down upon earth’s sufferings and, as the prophet Enoch observed, “he wept” (Moses 7:28).
I believe in an all-powerful God who, as the scriptures teach, stands at the command of “legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53) to help us in time of need.
I believe in a merciful God and a loving God, a God who mourns for the loss of every one of those fallen to sin or tragedy.
I believe in a God who, as the Christmas carol states, “is not dead nor doth He sleep.” (I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day)
So as the world continues to count the mounting toll of destruction, perhaps we’ll never truly know how many this disaster affected. But there is One who knows the number and names of all those who have suffered and will suffer.
It is He who has numbered the very hairs of our own heads and takes the time to even notice every fallen sparrow.
And it is He who reminds us, “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29).
Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.