Awareness of God’s presence a help during earthquakes

Earthquakes shake buildings, make them collapse, and destroy them. People found within are killed and those on whom they fall are likewise killed. When the seas and oceans are shaken tsunami is created and destroy properties and human lives.

As a result a more destructive and terrible effect of the earth tremors is the confusion in the minds of people and the fear in their hearts. Worse still is to realize that there is no solution to the problem, not even to predict when will it happen again. Brilliant scientists cannot help. Neither can powerful governments.

To us people of faith there are two ways by which we can at least lessen the confusion and fear in our minds and hearts. One is to pray always and consequently to be aware that God is all the time present. He is the Only One who can help and save us. He can enlighten our minds and strengthen our hearts. We trust In the assuring words of Jesus, “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

The other way is to have a spirituality based on the principle, “Nothing happens without a reason”. Only God knows why there are earthquakes. We cannot easily know His reason, and will not tell us why He allows these earthquakes to happen. But we can, through constant prayer and search for His abiding presence in everything that we see and hear, in every person we encounter, and in every event that occur in our life, deepen our faith and trust in Him. In the 1 Kings 19:12 the prophet Elijah, afraid for his life, was told by God to go out of the cave and watch for God who was passing by. Then a strong hurricane lashed at him, a strong earthquake shook his ground and a big fire burst out but God is not in the hurricane, earthquake and fire. A gentle breeze blew in front of him, and God is there.

Whatever happens we can only say with Jesus, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:9).