Are natural disasters a sign of sin? (Hag 1:7-11)
Hag 1:7-11
When we read a passage like Haggai’s that makes a connection between events in nature (like a drought) and the disobedience of His people (Hag 1:10), we may feel uneasy. Are natural disasters a sign of sin? Most of us are hesitant to think so. For one thing, our modern worldview teaches us that nature is governed by discernible laws: drought or rain is dependent on weather patterns, earthquakes on the movement of tectonic plates and so on. Many of us are also wary of those who make easy equations between ‘blessings’ that indicate a godly life and ‘curses’ that point to sin or lack of faith. Finally, although we believe as Christians that God is involved in the world, applying this truth is difficult. If we take God’s involvement to the micro-level, we can drive ourselves crazy with interpretations. If I missed the bus going to a Bible study, is Satan trying to stop me? Is God telling me that I should choose another study or to spend my time differently? How then should we read our passage and what can we learn from it?
Natural laws and God
First, our passage (and Scripture in general) focuses on God’s involvement in the world (Hag 1:9, 11), but this does not mean that ancient peoples were unaware of natural laws even if their scientific understanding was not as developed. They chose to stress divine activity because natural causes were seen as instruments in the hands of God (or the gods). Thus, unlike the modern secular view that excludes God as part of the explanation for events in creation, the Bible affirms that He is the primary and ultimate mover, who created the natural laws and works His purposes through them. The two causations (natural and God) are not mutually exclusive and despite interpretative difficulties, it is important that we align our thinking with Scripture and acknowledge God’s activity in the world.
Revelation through nature and God’s Word
However, understanding the significance of an event is not straightforward. It is clear from our reading that the drought was not self-explanatory; God’s interpretation through the prophet was needed. It is like the two-fold revelation described in the psalm where God shows Himself through nature (Ps 19:1), but this revelation is cryptic, hidden, without words or speech (Ps 19:3). It requires God’s Word to complete the process because only through this can His will and ways be known (Ps 19:7, 11). Moreover, if God’s explanation is necessary to make sense of natural events, then this suggests that we cannot automatically assume that good things equal His blessing and bad things His punishment in every instance.[1]
Seeing the whole picture
Finally, the events in the natural world are just one aspect of a much larger, complex picture. We have already seen in my previous post (Discerning when we lost our way) that there were other signs indicating a problem in the exiles’ attitude. They focused on their own lives to the detriment of building God’s house, which expressed how their priorities shifted from making room for God’s presence in their midst to having a good life without Him (Hag 1:4). It is in this context that the Lord showed them how the good life was going to evade them because those material things will not satisfy (Hag 1:6). Further, God brought objective need into their existence through drought (Hag 1:11) so that they might search for Him. Moreover, these aspects formed a consistent pattern over a long period of time (16 years). The prophetic interpretation pulls these various strands together to form a message calling the exiles to do God’s will again (Hag 1:8).
What is hidden and what is revealed
When events happen in our lives, it is good to look for those larger patterns, to examine our heart and be open to God’s correction, to seek God’s guidance through His Word, but also to recognise that difficulties do not automatically mean God’s discipline, nor will every incident make sense on our small-scale, human level. The Lord is indeed at work and intimately involved in His world but some of His ways will remain hidden to us. This should not surprise us since His perspective encompasses the whole world with all its intricacies (Isa 55:8-9), whereas we often make ourselves the reference point as if everything that happened was about us. The point is that God has revealed what we need in order to do His will (Deut 29:29) and when we seek Him, we can find Him.
[1] Job is the prime example in the OT to prove that suffering is not automatically the result of sin, but there are numerous other instances like the suffering of Joseph or the persecution of David by Saul and ultimately, Jesus Christ who suffered and died though without sin. Psalm 73:3-5 also shows that sometimes the wicked prosper in this life so that material goods are not a guarantee of God’s blessing. See the ‘For interest’ section of an earlier post on The prosperity gospel for additional details.
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