Column: When the earth shakes our faith

By DR. MARK ROSS/Columnist

He’s got the whole world in his hands…
He’s got the sun and the moon in his hands…
He’s got the wind and the rain in his hands…
He’s got the tiny little baby in his hands…
He’s got the whole world in his hands…

Laurie London first recorded this popular spiritual in 1958; it eventually went all the way to # 1. Simple lyrics coupled with a melodious tune have sustained the music’s popularity through the years. Most of us find it comforting to think that the world and our very lives do not simply spin unfettered in space, but rest firmly in the grasp of the almighty.
However, I wonder what the song sounds like in Cantonese. I wonder if they have ever sung it in China. If so, do they still?
The figures are staggering: 500,000 people homeless, more than 50,000 assumed dead. However, the number that I find most difficult to fathom is 6,898. That is the number of schools that collapsed due to the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that rumbled through China recently. “He’s got the whole world in his hands.”
The quake did not discriminate. The public buildings destroyed were primary, middle and high schools. The Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan entombed 900 children under its building materials and debris. At Beichuan, concrete crushed more than 1,000 students beneath what was formerly their high school. “He’s got the tiny little baby in his hands.”
I have always heard that as the Titanic sank, some of the passengers, who had remained on board, were singing “Nearer My God to Thee.” What does one sing during an earthquake? What kind of song does an earthquake evoke?
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” is a lovely little song with an endearing message. I just do not always believe it.
To believe that God has the whole world in his hands, one has to say that China slipped through his fingers last week. To be sure, there are other explanations. Some might say, “God has his reasons,” or “We will understand it better bye and bye.” Others might dare suggest that the earthquake was a means of discipline or punishment. Then there is the often-offered explanation of “something good is going to come out of this, such as a lesson to be learned.”
From our ivory towers and padded pews, all of the theories sound meritorious. Yet, when placed beside thousands of tiny bodies, these empty reasons sound like the paltry piety that they are. The death of thousands of innocents is not the design of the almighty. The world was not in his hands the day it shook.
In the face of this kind of loss the only song I can sing, sounds like this:
“On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
In a world where courthouses stand and schoolhouses fall, I cannot put much stock in a god that holds the world in his hands. However, I cannot help but worship one that would die for that world. “For God so loved the world…”

Dr. Mark Ross is the pastor of Marion Baptist Church. To learn more about MBC, visit http://www.marionbaptistchurchva.com/