Sermon to Youth on Natural Disaster
This summon is prepared for my youth students between the ages of thirteen and twenty years. The church comprises diverse individuals in terms of age, racial affiliation, gender, and socioeconomic background. In terms of age, the church is comprised of children of up to eleven years, youth between thirteen and 20 years, young adults, and older adults in their sixties. Church members are also from different racial affiliations, namely whites, blacks, and Latin Americans. In terms of gender, the congregation is either male or females from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds measured through the different education levels, income, and employment.
Images streaming out the events of natural disasters such as the Tsunami, which has affected several countries including Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Australia, evoke emotions of fear, compassion, sorrow, questions, and sacrifice1. In such situations, most individuals find it challenging to comprehend the magnitude of the destruction caused by the disasters.[footnoteRef:1] Disaster creates a crisis and raises many questions. Perhaps many people would ask various questions such as, where was God?, why did he let it happen?, Does he care? Some people would choose to believe that the disasters happen because of the laws of nature, mainly because the earth was already cursed as a result...
Today, we want to address natural disasters from the
biblical perspective to offer insight for young Christians like yourselves. [1: Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. "Natural disasters."Our World in Data(2014).]
In Psalm 66, God is praised not for the tragedy but Gods unseen work during the tragedy. This chapter clearly shows the dependence of man on Gods greatness in times of crisis and trouble. Many believe that this psalm was written after the deliverance of Hezekiah in a time of natural distress.[footnoteRef:2] Natural disasters, just like accidents and illnesses, leave us with so many questions about the nature of God and morality2. Unfortunately, people tend to rush into thinking and judging occurrences like Tsunami. The result is that they often reach erroneous conclusions. However, as Christians, we should ask ourselves what such disasters say about God and wonder if the bible addresses topics such as tsunamis. Thus, the answer is yes. It is written in the bible, [2: Olson, Dennis. "Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters."Interpretation65,...
…we also see his wildness through events like tsunamis and other natural disasters5. We should learn that God is not tame, neither is he a gentle cat that we can pet. Instead, God is more of a mighty lion in the jungle, and we should always be mindful that his might can never be under our control; neither can we tame or pet him. God is mighty, and the
power we see in the whole universe is a
reflection of his might because he is the source of it. Thus, we should learn that we are powerless and very small next to his might and power.[footnoteRef:5] This is why the principle of Gods might is okay for us Christians, who have been called to have a relationship with him. Gods power is awesome, and he has called us to be his children. When things are beyond our control, we should call for Gods help because he is the
giver and taker of life. In all, we should never lose our
faith in God. [5: Olson, Dennis. "Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters."Interpretation65, no. 4 (2011): 421.]
Bibliography
Barker, Kenneth L., Mark L. Strauss, Jeannine…
