On the 9th of June 2025 a terrible tragedy occurred at Umtata, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It resulted in a tragic loss of lives with a death toll exceeding 90, along with widespread displacement and damage. The flooding exacerbated by heavy rainfall and the overflow of the Mthatha Dam and Ciciria River, has also left thousands homeless and thousands more affected.
Isn’t God sovereign, loving? Doesn’t he care?
When calamities, disasters, and deep suffering strikes people, hearts are often left wrestling with profound questions about God. Isn’t he sovereign, loving? Doesn’t he care? In moments of pain, many also find themselves wondering, “Is this perhaps God’s judgment for our sins?”
In this article, I will reflect on various passages of scripture that speak to situations like the one that recently unfolded in the Umtata tragedy. I will offer a biblically grounded response. As a pastor, I feel the weight of those cries and questions, rising up not only before me but to God himself. We cannot dismiss them. Nor should we explain them away too quickly. In fact, these very questions remind me of the story of Job—a man who also suffered devastating loss and was surrounded by friends who tried, yet failed, to make sense of it all.
We Can Ask Questions
The Umtata tragedy has left many questioning the very existence of God. Some are saying that God has turned his back on the people of Umtata. Others believe he’s angry. Many are asking, “Where is God when it hurts like this?”—especially those who’ve lost loved ones, breadwinners, and even young children. Why would a good God allow such things to take place?
These heart-wrenching questions echo the ancient cries of sorrow found in Job.
These heart-wrenching questions echo the ancient cries of sorrow found in the book of Job. After he endured unimaginable loss and pain, his friends (Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar) attempted to make sense of his suffering, offering long-winded explanations about God’s will. While they touched on some truths, their overall approach was deeply flawed. Job himself called them “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). This is, as the book of Job shows in the end, because they spoke what they didn’t know about both Job and God.
Job’s friends put forward the idea that his suffering was the result of something wrong he’d done. Repeatedly, they insisted that he admit his wrongdoing and repent so that God might bless him. But God himself condemns their view. Towards the end of the book he says, “I am angry with you Eliphaz, and you too friends because you have not spoken the truth about me” (Job 42:7-9). Ultimately, despite our opinions we cannot fully comprehend God’s will (Isaiah 55:8-9). Thus we should be slow to pronounce on the tragedy at Umtata—or any other, for that matter.
Still, it’s natural that people try to make sense of things, to seek meaning and ask the hard questions. Tentatively, then, I want to answer two questions that I hope will help sufferers.
1. Who Is in Control?
Many people blame Satan when such things happen, a theology which makes Satan equal with God in power. Martin Luther put it nicely: the Devil is God’s creature. When the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), it means ‘all things,’ including the evil one. So even though he is powerful, Satan is in the end a finite creature. He isn’t equal to our God. God is in control of everything. Nothing and no one is outside of his power. He is sovereign.
Nothing and no one is outside of God’s power.
God’s sovereignty could be defined this way: God is completely and totally in control over every creature, event, and circumstance, at every moment of history. He is subject to none, influenced by none, and dependent on none. God does what he pleases. Nothing in the entire universe escapes this control or his will or purpose. “The Lord of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed so shall it stand'” (Isaiah 14:24).
The tragedy at Umtata was not outside of God’s control. It was within his will. This should bring us comfort, and alleviate some fears. But it also raises another question, my second question.
2. Why Did This Happen?
This question comes in other forms. Why does he allow suffering? Is this the best use of his power? How could this be a part of his purposes? The Bible gives many answers to those questions, but I’ll concentrate on just two.
Whenever we scorn God, we run the risk of incurring his judgment.
Firstly, suffering demonstrates the consequences of sin. In Numbers 32:23 we read that God judged the nations for their sins, along with the individuals that made up those nations. As Paul writes, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). God is holy. Whenever we scorn him, we run the risk of incurring his judgment. Sin is an offence to God, an affront to his holiness. When we sin, we deliberately turn our backs on God and say our way is better than his. But we’re wrong. Eventually we’ll pay the price. Suffering urges us to turn back to him.
Jared Wilson, in his book Gospel Deeps, gives ten reasons why God allows suffering. His fifth reason is another way we might answer this question. “Another reason God allows suffering so that we will long more for heaven and less for the world.” This world is not our home. One of the greatest evidences of that truth is that this world is full of evil, which persist because of the devil and sinful human hearts. A time is coming when both will be no more. But until then suffering points us beyond this life to the one that is to come (Romans 8:18). For now, suffering corrects our fixation on this world and conforms us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). It’s one of the ways God draws our hearts upwards, teaching us to hope in his promises.
We Must Turn to God
In times of deep sorrow and tragedy, like the floods in Umtata, it is natural to ask hard questions about God’s presence and purposes. But as we have seen, God is sovereign. He is always in control, even when it feels like the world is falling apart. Though we might not fully understand his ways, we can trust that his purposes are good, even through pain and suffering. Tragedies also reveal the brokenness of our world and call us to turn our gaze heavenward, away from temporary things.
Suffering corrects our fixation on this world and conforms us to the image of Christ.
In the face of grief, God is not distant. He is the God who weeps with us, walks with us, and ultimately redeems our suffering through the cross of Jesus Christ. May we find comfort in his sovereignty, rest in his goodness, and hope in his promises.
