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One professor of family education says when people have bad outcomes from wrong behavior they often learn useful lessons. A child that touches a hot stove soon learns that heat burns. But since some results are often delayed, we try to prevent disaster by alerting our children to the consequences. God did this with ancient Israel. We read in Leviticus 26 how God promised great blessings if they obeyed, but warned them of the outcomes if they violated the covenant. God said, “If you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, I will punish you.” Some of the results came as natural disasters, like famines; others were not. So today, when a tragedy strikes, it may stem from our own misdeeds, the misdeeds of others, or it may be a natural disaster. Since we can’t always know which, we resist assigning or accepting blame for every calamity. Instead, we try to align our actions with God’s will as revealed in His word then trust God for the best outcomes.
