Acts of God – Have You Seen One Lately?

The story of the rescue of 33 miners in Chile must be one of the best news stories we have heard in a very long time.

When the mine collapsed some 69 days ago on the 5th August 2010, it trapped the miners more than half a mile beneath a mountain of rock.  The chances of rescue during the first few days must have seemed bleak indeed.

After all, the San José mine does not have a good safety record.  There have been a number of previous accidents including fatalities.  In fact throughout Chile the mining industry has a poor safety record with more than 33 miners a year losing their lives on average over the past 10 years – that’s as many miners each year as have been rescued on this occasion.

We have to ask the question, “how many of these events could be justifiably described as ‘Acts of God’?, and the answer of course has to be probably none.

Most of those who lose their lives each year do so because of poor safety standards, which is nothing to do with God and everything to do with cutting costs to increase profits.  That is greed on a grand scale that is willing to make financial profit at the cost of other people’s lives.

Regarding the current rescue, we thank God that it has been achieved so rapidly and so smoothly but the fact is that much of the credit must also go to the dedication and engineering skills of those who first drilled down through 700 metres of rock to locate the trapped men and then drilled another shaft that is wide enough to winch the men up to the surface.

There are many situations that occur which are labelled as ‘Acts of God’ when in fact it would be far more accurate to describe them as ‘Acts of Men’.  God is often blamed when in fact it is men’s activity, often driven by greed or lust for power, fame or glory that is the real culprit.

The Hungarian escape of toxic waste is another story currently in the news that is as tragic as the Chilean miners’ rescue is welcome.  We have to ask:

■            Who created the toxic waste in the first place?

■            Who decided to store it where escape could result in many deaths and possibly pollute the drinking water of many nations along the Danube River?

■            Who failed to check and maintain the integrity of the retaining walls?

This is not an ‘Act of God’.  This is a tragedy that was designed, engineered and carried out by men for greed, even though they they may have prefered that the latest incident had not happened.

Thousands of years ago, Isaiah wrote of those who reject the righteous instruction of God and instead choose to go their own way (see Isaiah chapter 30)

The reported words of God are:

“Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging that collapses suddenly, in an instant.  It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”

How ironic, that the waywardness of men will inevitably come back to haunt them.

Let us be truly grateful and thank God that these miners in Chile have been rescued but let us also seek after God’s ways so that we don’t go on constructing disasters in waiting for future generations.

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