This week we were once again reminded of the awesome power of God but, most will just attribute it to nature and not to God. Our concept of God is some benign force 'out there' who is content to let go our own way. But, history is filled with accounts of God's intervention in the affairs of men. Most homes have at least one Bible, usually sitting on some shelf gathering dust but, if we would bother to read what it actually says, we would find all kinds of events where God was personally interacting with mankind, sometimes to bless, sometimes to judge. And sometimes His blessings came out of what we would call judgments.

We are preparing to celebrate Passover and it represents the greatest blessing ever experienced by man - the cleansing of all our sins and making a way for us to enter the presence of God by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But often forgotten is the fact that it came in the midst of great disasters on Egypt: 1) The water turning to blood thus causing the fish to die. Water is a mainstay of life, especially in Egypt and the fish as well. 2) The frogs covering the land, houses, and even their kneading bowls. Imagine your second mainstay of life, bread, being polluted with frogs. 3) Next lice (gnats) covered the land discomforting man and beast. If you have never seen cattle being driven mad by gnats, you cannot fathom the seriousness of this disaster. 4) Flies covered the people and their houses polluting and bringing disease. 5) Another mainstay of life was struck next, their cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, and oxen, on which their entire economy depended. 6) Boils on man and beast came next. All the Egyptian's false gods and magic could not reverse the maddening sickness that infected them. 7) If all this were not enough, hail mingled with fire came next killing any who were left uncovered, both men and beast. 8) Next came the locusts which destroyed every green thing in the land. 9) Then came darkness covering the land. Most do not appreciate the light of the sun until it is gone. Light is the engine of life. 10) Finally, all the firstborn of the Egyptians died. This represents not only the grief of untold numbers of families but also the very existence of the culture. Demographers tell us that if the birthrate of any nation falls below 1.9, it cannot sustain itself. All these disasters came because of an unwillingness to repent and give God glory.

Christ Church Cathedral

Today any one of these events would be called a 'natural' disaster, but, God was behind every one of them. It is important to understand that God can turn any disaster to our good if we meet His conditions, which are summed up in one word - repentance.

Many don't know that Christ Church New Zealand was hit with two earthquakes just before the Japan event. After the first, a city wide Thanksgiving to God rally was set up, city permits and sound equipment were gathered. Then just before the sponsored event, city church leaders opposed it, shutting it down. They wanted a rock band concert instead, which took over the park set aside for the Thanksgiving rally and the sound equipment gathered for it. The man who had received the idea for the Thanksgiving rally, he says from God, was then told by God to leave New Zealand - and he did. Shortly after, another quake hit Christ Church, even bigger than the first. Every church that had opposed the Thanksgiving rally was severely damaged along with a good portion of the city.

We are entering a time of history which will see God once again actively interacting with mankind; earthquakes, birds dropping from the skies, dead fish washing up on the shores, beast dying mysteriously, tsunamis and volcanoes erupting. All of them are warnings to repent and meet God on His terms - not ours. Israel is back in her land, as God said. The Fig Tree of Jesus' teaching is once again blooming. The Islamic sword led by Gog predicted in Ezekiel 38 is about to fall on Israel. There is not a lot of time. As the writer of Hebrews warns "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Pharaoh of Egypt made that mistake and he lost the argument with God - so will you.