Would A God of Love Do That?

I was listening to a very interesting coversation about the character of God. When one co-worker mentioned that natural disasters are sometimes seen as punishment from God, another co-worker asked "Would a God of love do that?" It was interesting because God is love but that does not mean He is a pushover. There are still consequences for ones actions, the bible says, in Proverbs 29:15 "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left [to himself] bringeth his mother to shame." Further verse 17 says, "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." So a God of love would correct and dicipline His children because He will not call us to do anything He wouldn't do.

Well naturally the next question would be, "Would God punish a nation?" There are many examples of this in the Old Testament, Noah's hometown and the world was flooded (God promised not to flood the entire world agian), Soddom and Gomorah, He even punished Isreal and for years they were enslaved then walked through the wilderness.

After Christ died on the cross, and rose again we were afforded grace, however, the character of God did not change. Hebrews 13:8 say, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

I am not saying that naturally disasters are punishments from God, but they could be. It can also simply be the result of our free will; we make decisions concerning our enviorment on a daily basis that effect the eco-system, another reason can be that God simply allows things to happen so future events can occur (if children don't learn to get up after falling they wont learn how to walk).

Be blessed.