Cast the first stone

The recent calamities have shown us how easy it is to point a finger and find a reason for the disasters. The environmentalists blame the floods on the unscrupulous ravaging of forests and indiscriminate throwing of garbage. The insurance businesses take on the stance of protection under the wings of God and say all these were “acts of God”. The activists blame it on government for not investing on a good tracking system for storms and other calamities while other cause-oriented groups and religious organizations also have their own pieces on the frequency of catastrophes that have come to visit our nation.

Through all this mudslinging, I felt like a spectator leaning against a wall with arms folded while people were in a frenzy looking for some space to tag the fault on. Each one trying to pick up a stone to cast. Anything to feel a hold on and ensure that as a stone is thrown, a solution shall be reached.

Last Sunday’s sermon at church only intensified my views on this matter. At the risk of being accused of delivering my own homily, let me just share with you what I learned from Pastor Jorem Ramos of Soli Deo Gloria in Davao City.

I carefully tried to take notes so I could share his thoughts with you for I find these urgently important. 

ALL THESE CALAMITIES ARE ACTS OF GOD. Looking at the way the rain fell, the volume of water came in sleets and the quickness of the flood to grow took only seconds to build. No man can drop the rain from the heavens and allow it to flow that much in such a short period.

Although it is true that our God is a good and merciful God, He is also a jealous and just God. His providence includes calamities. Not to scare, not to threaten, but to shake us awake from a spiritual slumber.

We have become so engrossed with the things of the world. Technology sees to it that we move fast. But not too fast or as fast as God and He allows us to experience these things so we can be still and know…

But the love of God is great and deep and His wisdom surpasses our understanding and yet again we must remember, HE IS GOD.

So let me move on by sharing with you some points outlined by our pastor: first, Calamities call us to believe that there is a God.   Experience has taught us that when things are rosy we forget that we have a God to thank. Calamities are God’s megaphone to tell us that something is dreadfully wrong with the world. How we care for it, how we protect and respect nature as God’s gift. Calamities remind us of how dreadful sin is. And must I say, how sin has become bigger than God in our lives sometimes. It creeps in unnoticeably in our lifestyle and since it has become so acceptable, we can’t distinguish sin from fad. 

Calamities remind us to take more seriously what the Bible says. When we look at the Book of Revelation and even in the indicators of things to come in the Old Testament, we see that God is a firm being. He does not lie and He carries through what He has decreed.

Calamities are God’s previews of what sin deserves and will one day release in judgment rest assured that God is also faithful to complete a work that He has started in us as He has also promised. But calamities are also a merciful call from God for the living to repent. We must repent for ourselves. God is already God and He does not really need us. The truth is, as His creation, WE need Him.

Calamities remind the followers of Jesus to look for their greatest prize in Christ for He redeemed us to the Father.

So what is the end point of all these? I write to encourage everyone to read the Bible so we understand that the message is of hope and not doom. And that the call is to submit, commit and act for the birth pains of God’s return are clear. As a mother’s womb contract faster when the baby is about to be born, so are the signs of God’s coming showing themselves more frequently.

Again, this is not anathema but a call to be aware and to search for the truth in His word. All these shall come to pass so it is useless to blame anyone instead it is best to call for a massive action to pray and know that God is in control.

God bless us all.