HURRICANES. DROUGHTS. EARTHQUAKES. Devastating natural disasters in areas as distant from each others as New Orleans, East Africa, and Pakistan all suggest that the forces of nature are unstoppable and dangerous—even deadly. Yet, if we turn to the Bible, we see a very different concept of our world: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Ps. 24:1.
Is our world governed by the laws of chance and decay? Or can we look beyond physical predictions of disaster to the eternal, spiritual laws of the universe that God created—and then demonstrate these laws to restore harmony and safety?
Some years ago, while working as a housefather at a preparatory school, I had to confront a potentially dangerous wildfire that threatened the school and the children. It was summer, and we were in the middle of a drought. One weekend, the common of gorse bushes and trees a mile or so from the school caught fire. The wind sent the flames in our direction. We had an extensive rhododendron shrubbery just outside the school building, and it appeared that the dry vegetation might go up in flames and thus endanger the school building itself. The police warned that we should prepare to evacuate the school.
