Are Natural Disasters Like Hurricane Matthew an Instrument of God's Judgement? Billy Graham Weighs In

Leah Marieann Klett : Oct 14, 2016
Gospel Herald

"We may be strong and successful, and assume life is always going to be that way—but when disaster strikes, we realize this isn't true."

[Gospel Herald] Evangelist Billy Graham has offered up a reminder that God can sometimes uses natural disasters, such as Hurricane Matthew, to speak to us "just as He can use other difficulties and tragedies to turn our hearts toward Him." (Photo Credit: REUTERS/Henry Romero)

The 97-year-old evangelist shared his thoughts on the issue after a reader asked him if national disasters are an instrument of God's judgment.

Disasters remind us of "the brevity of life," the evangelist wrote on the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. "We may be strong and successful, and assume life is always going to be that way—but when disaster strikes, we realize this isn't true."

He quotes Isaiah 38:17, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction."

Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, has left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The storm wreaked havoc in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia over the weekend before it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday as it headed east over…

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