Did God cause Katrina?

The Radioblogger has transcribed some remarks made by Jesse Jackson Jr., where Jackson seems to blame God for the disaster left behind by Katrina:

I hope [President Bush] will stand on a pile of rubble. And he will look up to the heavens and say to God, "You're responsible for this. And soon you will hear from us."
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God is responsible for this. And in His own time, He will reveal why.

What is the Christian response to horrific events like this hurricane? Is it fair to blame God? Is it fair even to ask if God causes such events?

New Orleans has long held some notoriety for its corruption. Did God allow the hurricane to strike the city as punishment for corrupt people who showed no signs of mending their ways?

The hurricane struck a wide area, though. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected. Were they all corrupt? Surely there were committed Christians among the dead and displaced? Why would God allow a disaster to befall the faithful just to punish the wicked?

If we don't believe there is a God, then such questions are pointless. However, if we do believe there is a God who is interested in human affairs, who acts in our lives, who seeks a relationship with us, then what would be our basis for dismissing a priori any notion that God might have a hand in disasters? Are we so sure of our understanding of God's ways that we deem it beyond the pale even to consider the possibility God could allow, or even bring about, suffering on this scale?

After 9/11, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson opined that God may have permitted the attacks as a response to a condition of moral decay in this country. As a representative example of the reaction to Falwell and Robertson, William F. Buckley called this an "ignorant misapplication of Christian thought." There was no consideration, even among conservatives, of even the remotest possiblity that Falwell and Robertson were in the vicinity of the truth.

(Falwell and Robertson placed the blame for the attacks squarely on the terrorists. They never said God caused the attacks to happen.)

Why? Why were conservatives and Christians so quick then, and so quick now, to refuse even to countenance a God who plays a role in such disasters, whether through "direct aggression engineered by God", or through "the forfeit of God's special protection"? (Again, from Buckley's column.)

In response to these questions I have posed, let me start with what I think is the clearest picture of God's feelings about sin in the Old Testament. In Zechariah Chapter 3, Zechariah has a vision of Joshua, the high priest, standing before an angel in dirty garments. Zechariah 3:3 says this (RSV):

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.

The word translated filthy here literally means excrement. In our sinful state, as we stand before God, we appear to Him as if we were covered in excrement. We are not basically good people, with a few smudges of sin around the hems of our otherwise clean garments. We disgust God. It's as if we crawled out of an outhouse pit and walked towards God asking for a hug. God cannot stand to be anywhere near us in our sinful state. We are that revolting.

The vision goes on to show how God puts clean robes on Joshua, and it is a foreshadowing of what Christ would do for us on the cross. Christ would take away our sins and we would appear clean in God's eyes, and be welcome in His presence.

My point of bringing this up, though, is to say we cannot dismiss how nauseating and putrid our sin is to God, how the reviling the stench of our sin is. Would you dunk a child in an outhouse pit, and then willingly and cheerfully cuddle that child on your lap? No, I rather doubt it.

So why do we insist on telling God He should ignore our fallen state and accept us as we are? Why do we insist on wagging our fingers at God and chiding Him for overreacting to our sins?

At this point, you might be thinking I am leading up to claiming this disastrous hurricane was divine judgment sent by an wrathful God to punish the wicked.

You might be surprised to learn I am not saying that. I am saying we cannot know God's thoughts in allowing this hurricane to happen.

And surely, if we Christians believe in a sovereign, omniscient God, we must believe that at the very least God knew what was coming.

When the wave that would become Katrina first formed over the Sahara, God knew what would happen. When that wave blew out into the Atlantic waters off the west coast of Africa, and began to feed on the heat and moisture, God knew what would happen. When that disturbance first formed into a tropical storm and began to move westwards across the Atlantic, God knew it would grow into a powerful hurricane and strike the Gulf Coast. If God knew all this, why did He allow it to happen?

There are two cases in the Old Testament where individuals asked similar questions of God. These individuals did not understand why God allowed hard times to come upon them, and they asked God to explain Himself.

The first is in Habakkuk. In Habakkuk Chapter 1, the Babylonians are in the process of dismantling what was left of a wicked Israel, and Habakkuk poured out his frustration at the violence and evil he saw. In Habakkuk 1:1-3 (RSV):

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and thou wilt not hear? Or cry to thee "Violence!" and thou wilt not save?

Why dost thou make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

God replied the Persian empire was coming, and would defeat the Babylonians. This did not reassure Habakkuk, however, who didn't understand why God would allow his people to fall into the hands of the violent Persians. In 2:1, Habakkuk says (RSV):

I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and look forth to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Isn't that often our approach to God? We're going to stand right here, arms folded, and demand that God explain Himself.

What I find so interesting about the account of Habakkuk is that God does not explain Himself. He does not address Habakkuk's complaints. God's answer is summed up in 2:4 (RSV):

Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

We are to live by faith in the midst of situations we do not understand.

A similar confrontation takes place in the more familiar Book of Job. After 37 chapters of the disasters that came upon Job, after being prodded by his wife and friends to blame God, Job remained faithful, yet questions remained. And as with Habakkuk, God did not explain Himself to Job. In Job 38:2-8 (RSV), God said:

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;

God goes on for several more chapters, but says this in Job 40:2,8 (RSV):

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.

Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?

God is saying to Job, you don't understand everything, there is so much you are unaware of, and because you don't have a complete perspective, it is not right for you to question what I do.

This, then, is the Christian response to terrible events like Katrina. It is not right to preclude the possibility that our wrongdoing in some way brought on this disaster. On the other hand, we cannot say that is the case. We can only say we do not know, we do not understand. To say more would be to speak words without knowledge.

In the end, it is our responsibility as Christians to live with faith, to believe the God who knows when sparrows fall can take care of us through these trying times. We leave it to God to judge those who do wrong, and we just trust God will provide for all those in need. It is not up to us to tell God how to run His universe.

Update: See the comments, where Jeremy from the excellent Parableman blog points out where I mistakenly referred to the Persians in Habakkuk Chapter 1.

Also, I had a followup to this post here.

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The Evangelical Outpost has some thoughts on where trust, and blame, should be placed.
Stones Cry Out has some related thoughts from Hugh Hewitt's program, and has some original thoughts as well.
The Parableman blog has a very thoughtful look at this topic. He points out the truth that the Bible never says hard times won't come to believers.
Northern 'burbs blog looks at the issue of evil, and if it relates to disasters.