How do we make sense out of a disaster of epic proportions, like the recent hurricane in the Caribbean and Florida? Loss of life is the most tragic, representing years of life with purpose and meaning, love and relationships, experiences and celebrations—all gone with each individual’s last heartbeat. The loss of property is enormous also—houses and entire communities leveled, power outages lasting for weeks and months, and access to island homes cut off for who knows how long. All this, understandably, ignites the question of whether God is good and, at the same time, sovereign.

To entertain a doubt about God when disasters occur seems to validate other times when we, with difficulty, suppress our doubts below the threshold of speaking our thoughts outwardly. Where is God in times of sickness, persecution, racial prejudice and suppression, financial reversal, broken marriages, alienation of friendships, church splits, and sexual, domestic, and child abuse? We inhabit a world that is broken, according to Genesis 3:17. This partly explains hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, and diseases as they run their natural course. But morality enters the equation because sin runs rampant, passed down from the first transgressors in the Garden of Eden. This affects the relational difficulties we all experience. And it can also impact our physical experiences through unwise choices affecting health, weather patterns, nuclear radiation exposure, etc.

But still, we ask, “Where is God in all of this?” As he feared for his own life, Elijah the prophet was confronted with this question. And the Lord revealed to him a perspective we need to grasp today as we face things we don’t understand.

Elijah stood against the influence of the false religion of Baal worship, which was sweeping into Israel. Israel’s king Ahab (influenced by his wife Jezebel) executed many of the Lord’s prophets in Israel, and now they were even coming after Elijah. He found himself standing alone in his combat on Mount Carmel, calling down fire from heaven on those reprobate purveyors of idolatry. But, despite the miracles he saw firsthand, the question needed to be asked, “Where was God now that his life was caving in on him? Why doesn’t He do something or say something?” Listen to what this prophet learned about God:

So [Elijah] arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” So [God] said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:8–14)

The greater question is, “Where is God when He is not whipping up hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and disasters of all sorts?” It is one level of faith to hear the Lord’s voice in natural phenomena like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and disasters of all sorts. Indeed, God spoke the universe into existence (Gen. 1); King David understood a storm to be the voice of God (Psalm 29); Elijah himself saw God’s answer to his taunts against the prophets of Baal and reigned down fire on them and their altar (1 Kings 18). But what about when God does none of these things? The question remains: Where is God in the quiet, lonely times when nothing big is happening that we can attribute to His miraculous working in our lives? That is what Elijah needed to learn. And that is what we need to know.

Our faith in God must embrace Him as He is. Though events in life may seem contradictory to what we know of Him, we still trust Him. We may feel alone like Elijah felt, when we can’t hear or interpret the Lord’s voice in our life circumstances, but we trust that He is there with us, whether in the storm or in the solitude. The prophet Habakkuk thought the Lord would never use an evil nation to punish God’s people. But he learned the truth, which at first confounded him but then led to a deepening faith:

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” (Hab. 2:4)

To call into question God’s goodness when disaster strikes, reveals the “proud” heart of one who believes the ridiculous notion of having a higher moral standard than the One who established morality and justice in the first place. However, the humble heart will continue to “live by his faith.” So, true righteousness is evident when we rest in the truth that God is both good and all-powerful, even when we can’t understand how both can be true at the same time, in the same way. He is God, and we are not. And His ways and thoughts are greater than ours!