Let us not forget that God has always wanted our hearts. He especially wants it now, in your anguish, tragedy, confusion, and grief. Open your heart to him in prayer; draw near to him by pouring out your pain to him. Be brutally honest with your Father in heaven. Out of your calamity, call out to him; he anticipates and hears your cries. 

What words can convey the sheer horror, pain, and disbelief gripping the nation as wildfires continue to ravage the greater LA area? Death, chaos and heartbreaking loss are the smoldering remains of this catastrophe. These unquenchable flames do not discriminate in their destruction; they are relentless and merciless. 

While there are moving accounts of generosity, bravery, and unity, the overall sense is still one of dread and dismay. As my sister and friends in the area text me about their losses, and I warily eye the “Red Flag Warning” area in the Watch Duty app expand to engulf my parents’ home, I can only imagine how traumatic and hard it must be for others living through the same or worse terror. Nothing can truly capture the magnitude of their sudden and devastating losses.

Though wildfires are nothing new to Southern California, these fires are unprecedented. Supernatural terms are needed to describe this natural disaster. Headlines with “hell,” “apocalyptic,” and “biblical” soberly remind us that in moments like these, when our collective conscience struggles to make sense of something so massively overpowering and overwhelming, we resort to divine imagery and spiritual realities.  

Although no one can fully fathom the inscrutable ways of God, we know that his ways are good, loving, and trustworthy even if they don’t feel like it in the moment. And, in hopes of bringing some comfort and encouragement amidst the fire, especially to my brothers and sisters in the greater LA area, I turn to God’s word. And I lament.

So many of us are wondering, “How could God let this happen? Why do I feel abandoned by him or feel so unsettled when faith is supposed to anchor and ground me? Where is God amidst the fire?”

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