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| All creatures need our care |
What promise, you ask? The promise he made to allow us, as individuals, and communities of people, to choose our courses of action through free will.
It must be deeply painful to a loving God as he watches our continuing damage and destruction of ourselves, our relationships, other living creatures, and of course, the earth itself. Therein is the explanation for the ever-increasing natural disasters.
A human body neglected and abused breaks down. This is true of our earth and environment, as well as our fellow creatures. The effects of our choices, technology, and so called "progress" are very often toxic These decisions, and the results, are not GOD’s judgment, but the result of our choices.. As a Christian, I am fully convinced we are entering the last days, as evidenced by the alarming increase of turmoil, struggles, and the onslaught of these increasing natural disasters.
Mother nature, all creation, is screaming, fighting back, and flexing her muscle in response to being abused. You and I would do so, appropriately, as well.
I believe this will continue, not as God's judgment, but as the "stage setter" for the end - the time and place - “WE" are bringing upon ourselves, to the brink of ruin, and the need to be saved by the creator of all.
As Paul stated in the book of Romans, "the creation itself waits to be delivered from its bondage to death and decay....." (Romans 8:28), and goes on to say this bondage was the result not of its own choice, but the will of the one who subjected it.
God, in my belief, does not "cause", but "allows", just as he promised.
It is also important to note, in recent years, we have been rapidly finding increasing evidence which scientifically affirms many natural occurrences as told in The Biblical Narrative. More often than not, naysayers have called these natural, unexplainable events and disasters everything from unlikely to ridiculous. Not so, as we see now how these events became tools, as God directed them to achieve mighty and amazingly uplifting outcomes.
Following the flood, our God made a covenant, not only with man, but every living creature, never again to destroy the earth through those means. It is reasonable and appropriate to conclude his commitment would leave us the freedom to choose. Our choices are often not good for us as individuals, communities of people, other creatures, or our earth and environment. He has watched us destroying our "home", yet in his kindness, when the ruin is complete; he will – mercifully - save us, not from his judgment, but from ourselves, and make "all things new".
We can look forward to a redeemed and resurrected creation, perfect as intended, absent the opportunity to destroy it again
