And other disasters that can devastate communities in moments, leaving families suddenly without homes, livelihoods, and sometimes even loved ones.

For more than forty years of ministry, I have pondered, observed, processed, written, and taught about what Scripture describes as creation groaning and the shakings taking place around us.

And after personally walking through many disaster-stricken communities over those decades, these things are more than headlines to me.

THE NUMBERS REPRESENT PEOPLE:

Sometimes the sheer magnitude of human suffering can be difficult to comprehend.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ World Disasters Report 2026 reports that between 2020 and 2024, disasters affected approximately 697 million people worldwide.

Think about that for a moment.

Nearly 700 million people affected by disasters in just five years.

During that same period, disasters caused approximately 105 million displacements and claimed some 271,000 lives. The report also notes that the number of people needing humanitarian assistance increased from approximately 192 million in January 2020 to more than 433 million by the end of 2024.

Those are staggering numbers. But we must never allow statistics to become so large that we lose sight of the individual. Behind every statistic is a person.

A mother.
A father.
A son.
A daughter.
A grandparent.
A family.
A neighborhood.
A community.

Someone who went to bed expecting tomorrow to look much like yesterday, only to discover that everything changed in a matter of moments.

The IFRC’s reporting describes hundreds of disasters around the world involving floods, cyclones, wildfires, droughts, earthquakes, and other crises. Its 2024 reporting alone recorded 559 disasters worldwide, noting that communities on every continent were affected.

These numbers should do more than impress us.They should move us.

They should remind us of the extraordinary amount of human suffering taking place around the world.

And for those of us who profess to know Christ, perhaps they should also drive us to our knees.

CREATION IS GROANING:

Paul wrote:

What an extraordinary description.

Creation groans.

And Paul compares that groaning to birth pains.

Birth pains have intensity.
They have travail.
They demand attention.

Yet they also point toward something beyond themselves.

I don’t pretend to know why every natural disaster occurs. Nor do I believe we should presumptuously declare that a particular earthquake, flood, hurricane, wildfire, or other tragedy is God’s judgment against a particular people. Jesus cautioned His disciples against simplistic assumptions about suffering.

But surely there is another danger as well:

That we can witness extraordinary suffering all around us and never allow it to get our attention.

We can become so accustomed to the headlines that another earthquake becomes just another story.

Another flood becomes another video.

Another devastated community becomes another statistic.

But nearly 700 million affected people are not merely a statistic.

They represent an extraordinary amount of grief, displacement, loss, uncertainty, and human need.

Perhaps creation’s groaning should cause God’s people to groan in intercession.

WHEN THE EARTH GROANS, THE CHURCH SHOULD PRAY:

There were moments throughout Scripture when famine, pestilence, drought, war, and calamity caused people to stop what they were doing and seek God. Not because they always understood exactly what was happening. But because they recognized something we desperately need to remember:

We need God.
We need His wisdom.
We need His mercy.
We need His grace.
We need His intervention.
We need His direction.
We need His Presence.

Perhaps instead of only asking, “Why is this happening?” we should also be asking:

“Lord, what should our response be?”
“How should we pray?”
“Where should we serve?”
“Who is hurting?”
“How can we become Your hands and feet?”

And perhaps even:

“Lord, is there anything You are trying to get our attention about?”

THE GROANING SHOULD BRING US TO OUR KNEES:

There is something fascinating later in Romans 8. Creation groans. Then believers groan. And then Paul tells us:

What a progression!

Creation groans.
God’s people groan.
The Holy Spirit helps us in our groaning.

Maybe the groaning around us should produce deeper intercession within us.

When we see communities devastated by earthquakes:

Lord, have mercy.

Prayer is not our last resort after everything else has failed. Prayer is our acknowledgment that we have always needed God.

DON’T JUST WATCH THE GROANING—ENTER INTO IT:

For decades I have been involved in disaster and crisis response. I have stood in places where devastation could not be adequately captured by a photograph. I have walked among people whose lives changed overnight.

And I have learned that when someone has lost everything, they don’t necessarily need us first to explain theologically why the disaster happened.

Sometimes they need us simply to be there.

To listen.
To weep.
To pray.
To bring water.
To provide food.
To help find shelter.
To encourage exhausted first responders.
To put our arms around someone who has lost a loved one.
To become a tangible expression of Jesus.

Compassion is theology with work clothes on.

The groaning of creation should not merely drive the Church to its knees. It should eventually get us back onto our feet to serve.

We pray.

Then we go.

PERHAPS GOD IS TRYING TO GET OUR ATTENTION:

In my larger teaching on these things, I have often returned to Hebrews 12:

Scripture tells us that things which can be shaken will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

I began writing about the Lord’s provision in times of shaking back in the 1980s. More than forty years later, the question still confronts me: What are we building our lives upon?

Our technology cannot save us from everything.
Our wealth cannot insulate us from everything.
Governments cannot prevent everything.
Human ingenuity cannot control everything.

There are moments when creation itself reminds us how small we really are. That realization doesn’t have to produce despair. It can produce humility.

Maybe we need moments that remind us again:

We are not God.

And perhaps some of what we see around us should bring us back to the posture of 2 Chronicles 7:

Before pointing fingers at everyone else, perhaps God’s people should first bend our knees.

THE SHAKING IS NOT THE DESTINATION:

But I want to emphasize something I have learned through the years: The shaking is not the destination.

Haggai speaks about God shaking the nations, but the same passage also speaks of His Presence, glory, and peace. God tells His people:

That’s where our focus must remain.

Not fascination with disasters.
Not fear.
Not sensationalism.
Not prophetic speculation.

His Presence.

When the earth groans, seek His Presence.
When circumstances shake, seek His Presence.
When you don’t understand what is happening, seek His Presence.
When people around you are afraid, carry His Presence to them.

The shaking is not the destination. His Presence is.

THIS IS AN OCCASION FOR OUR TESTIMONY:

Jesus described times of extraordinary turmoil in Luke 21…nation against nation, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, persecution, and fearful events. Yet right in the middle of that description He said something I have quoted for years:

Whatever our eschatology may be, Jesus has already given us our assignment.

This is an occasion for our testimony.

When people are frightened, we can carry peace.
When people despair, we can carry hope.
When people are suffering, we can carry compassion.
When communities are divided, we can become ministers of reconciliation.
When people feel forgotten, we can remind them: Somebody cares. His name is Jesus.

The whole earth may indeed be groaning with birth pains.

And perhaps that groaning should get our attention. But may it do more than get our attention. May it bring us to our knees.

May we pray for those who are suffering.
May we seek God’s mercy and intervention.
May we ask Him for wisdom and discernment.
May we humble ourselves and seek His face.
May we allow the Holy Spirit to search our own hearts.

And then may we get back on our feet and go into a hurting world as tangible expressions of Christ.

Creation is groaning.

The Church should be praying.

And a hurting world should find God’s people serving.

For in the middle of the groaning, the shaking, and the uncertainty, Jesus reminds us: