California is Burning

THE LA WILDFIRES LIT UP OUR TRUE NATURE

It’s no news to anyone that Los Angeles was on fire this January. More than 12,300 homes and businesses burned to the ground, including two schools in the second largest school district in the country, and at least 27 deaths were reported. Our feeds were filled with everything from wide-eyed residents in disbelief that they were displaced into the shelter system, to chaotic reunions with pets their owners thought were dead. Despite the obvious devastation, the larger inferno that burned just as swiftly was the news cycle and social media meltdown that occurred simultaneously.

Immediately, conspiracy theories were spreading wildly, spewing disinformation on both sides that led to finger pointing and shouts of everything from “they deserved it” to “this was God’s judgement.” The fact that the water ran out of the fire hydrants is a sure sign that the California government is in on it! Oh, and what about the fact that State Farm pulled out of thousands of homeowner insurance policies mere months before the fires started? Something must be afoot.

While the exact cause of these fires is still unknown as of this writing, the conditions leading up to them are well documented. California has a long history with wildfires, and over the last year, extreme drought conditions combined with those infamous Santa Ana winds, leading to a worst-case scenario of multiple out-of-control fires surrounding the second most populous city in the U.S.

The experts will probably discover that the cause of the fires was human in origin since 85% of all wildfires in America are caused by us according to the National Park Service. Perhaps some campers inadvertently let a campfire burn out of a control or someone stupidly flicked a still lit cigarette into the wrong brush pile. Maybe they will find out that it was more malicious in nature and some bad actor intentionally set them. There’s also a chance it was natural in origin, since lightning is the second leading cause of all wildfires. Even spontaneous combustion can occur naturally if the conditions are right.

“We’re converting disasters into condemnation and pitting humans against humans.”

There is no doubt that the LA wildfires were terrible and caused far more damage than should have been possible. If there are things that can be done to reduce the degree of devastation fires can cause in the future, that would be amazing and should be pursued. But we’re never going to be able to stop them permanently, or even be able to point a finger at any single causation explaining why they’re happening at the rate or voracity that they are.

So, where is God in all this? In other words, “why does He let bad things like this happen?” You might also ask, “why do bad things happen to good people?” since people from every socioeconomic class, race, gender, religion, and ability were affected by these fires. No one was spared. The problem of these questions, however, is the viewpoint. The problem is, we’re without God in this world because we choose evil, over and over again. We choose to try to be our own gods and mold everyone else into our own image, and that’s always going to be doomed from the start.

The only One that can make anyone “good” is Jesus Christ who alone has the power to make us new creatures with new hearts that can truly love people and steward what we are given in this world. He alone is good, and without Him, well, you can see what happens when we’re left to our own devices.

As a human race, we’re converting disasters into condemnation and pitting humans against humans. And yet, He’s here, inexplicably, if we want Him.