Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

The grim news of a tornado hitting the city of Moore, Oklahoma yesterday, May 20, killing 51 may become bleaker as the death toll is expected to rise today searching for missing persons. Twenty children from two elementary schools are among the dead.

One woman asks what many are asking; "I am speechless as how this happened, why it happened," she said. "How do we explain it to the kids?" Some residents are explaining it for a second time. Moore was devastated by a tornado in 1999 killing 36. The Bible explains that sun, rain and natural disasters, happen on the good and the bad.

Matthew 5:45
" ...that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Jesus encountered people who viewed every disaster as God’s judgment on their wrong-doings. There are times God has judged people that were perversely rebellious. Jesus makes it clear that this is not always the situation.

Luke 13:1-5
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

In this world, there are tornadoes, buildings that collapse, disease and death. There are terrible losses related to natural disasters. Repenting and trusting in the Lord Jesus gives us security in the midst of storms. A man in Moore, Oklahoma has summed it up:
"The Lord took care of us," said the man, 72. "My security is not in my hands. It is in the Lord's."

Pray for the people of Moore, Oklahoma.

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