I live on Long Island and as I write this, most everyone is preparing for hurricane Sandy which is due to hit us sometime Monday. I am on my way to Houston on business so I’m going to miss the excitement. On my way to the airport, I remarked to my wife that Sandy seemed like a wimpy name for a hurricane. I think hurricanes should have names like Vader or Attila, names which carry a sense of power and foreboding. The more intense the hurricane, the scarier the name. I think I’m on to something. Someone should call the National Weather Service on this. If we named a hurricane, “the Wrath of Khan” we wouldn’t have such a problem getting people to evacuate.

While I am kidding about naming hurricanes Attila, we make a much more serious mistake when we attribute hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. to God. Insurance policies even call these events Acts of God, implying that God is behind these destructive events. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb 1:3). In the Gospel of John, Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus responds by saying, “I’ve been with you all this time and still you don’t get it? If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” In other words, if you want to see what the Father is like, just look at Jesus. Jesus said that He only did the what He saw His Father do. So then, every act of Jesus was an act of the Father. This begs the question, how many storms did Jesus bless? How often did he respond to a sick person’s cry for help by telling them that their sickness was a blessing in disguise or that God was teaching him through this sickness?

Jesus in fact, never blessed a storm. However, He did speak peace to a few of them and they quieted right down. He never failed to heal anyone who came to Him for healing. He ruined every funeral He went to by raising the dead. This is the nature of God, not death and destruction. Acts of God are healing the sick, raising the dead, setting the oppressed free. Those are the acts of God because that is the nature of our Father in heaven.

You then may wonder where these calamities come from. That’s a question for another time. For now, rest in the fact that our Heavenly Father has only good in store for you. Jer 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” That is God’s will, God’s desire for you.