In what Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called “the worst natural disaster our region has faced,” three wildfires have been torching Washington’s Spokane County since Saturday, consuming over 10,000 acres, destroying over 700 structures, and forcing at least 67,000 people to evacuate. At this point, they are still zero percent contained.

• Local resident Aaron Farinacci has been arrested on suspicion of arson. There are currently no reported fatalities, but 14 people are unaccounted for.

Spokane resident Katie Sullivan told komo News: “There was a moment of fear I think I’ve never felt before in my life where a cloud of smoke comes and blocks the sun and you can hear things exploding, catching fire. … There’s nowhere to go.”

Fourteen other major wildfires are burning in other parts of Washington. The state experiences wildfires every summer, and in terms of acreage, this fire season is not the worst in even the last decade. But unlike most fire seasons, it is affecting heavily populated areas.

When such disasters strike, a common refrain among politicians and other leaders is that their “thoughts and prayers” are with the affected. This implies an appeal to the divine. Why would a loving God allow an entire community to go up in smoke like this?

Detailing God’s judgment against an evil nation, Nahum 1:5-6 read: “The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence …. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.”

• Verse 7 continues: “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” Yet with Spokane in trouble and some people praying for help, why is He not acting as a stronghold for them now?

These questions deserve answers. Our free booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? states: “We cannot be careless about something so critical. We are talking about the state of our eternal lives!”

These questions do have answers. Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? explains how disasters like those in Spokane fit in with God’s plan and why “such disasters should increase your faith—not decrease it!”