“Camp Mystic. Where Was Jesus?”

God is powerful enough that He could have stopped the natural disaster, and He is loving enough that He should have.

Where was God at 4:30 am on July 4, 2025, when the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet near Highway 39 in Hunt, Texas?

Where was God when those rising waters catastrophically flooded Camp Mystic for girls, a Christian camp, killing at least 27 campers and counselors and also taking the life of Camp Mystic director, Richard “Dick” Eastland?

Where was God when nearly two dozen 8-10-year-old girls who had just been tucked into their beds were overwhelmed and succumbed to the flood waters?

Over 100 people lost their lives on Friday morning, July 4, 2025. (170 are still missing at the writing of this article.)

When natural disasters happen, people have all sorts of needs. Physical needs are the immediate concern: rescue, recovery, hospitalization, food, water, clothing, and even planning funerals. There are also emotional needs such as shock, fear, grief, regret, blame, and anger. The physical and emotional needs are primarily experienced by the victims and their families, who have experienced unimaginable loss.

Millions around the globe who witnessed the natural disaster through media and are struggling to understand also experience intellectual and spiritual needs. The two questions most often asked by those grappling with natural disasters are: “How did this happen?” and “Why did this happen?”

Scientific laws and weather patterns partially answer the how of natural disasters. In this case, flooding, of course, occurs when excessive rainfall overwhelms the ground's ability to absorb it, causing water to rise rapidly in a short period of time (nearly 30 feet!). The “how?” is also answered by investigating the effectiveness, timeliness, and urgency of the weather alerts and evacuations. Those findings will be forthcoming.

But the “Why did this happen?” question is more challenging to answer, especially for those of us who believe that there is one God, an almighty, benevolent God who rules and reigns over every detail of our lives. Our Biblical worldview of God creates tension.

The existence of our mental and spiritual struggle with the why in the face of evil reveals our underlying belief that God is powerful enough that He could have stopped the natural disaster, and that He is also loving sufficient that He should have.

But why didn’t He stop it? This attempt to justify God is a theological and intellectual exercise to reconcile the presence of evil with the belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God. This mental/spiritual exercise is called theodicy. (The Book of Job in the Bible is a theodicy.) Atheists (no god), agnostics (don’t know), polytheists (many gods), and dualists (two equal gods: satan and God) have no real need for a theodicy. Not being theists, they don't believe in an all-powerful and benevolent God. It's we monotheists (one God), particularly Christians, who believe in one, all-powerful, loving God of the Bible, who do need a theodicy. Why didn’t our good, strong God prevent the tragedy at Camp Mystic when He could have and should have? Are the insurance companies correct in designating natural disasters as “acts of God?” If so, how do we justify our God not preventing this tragedy? WARNING: A theodicy is not for the weak of soul. However, working through a theodicy can transform our knowledge of God from simple audio to high-definition video.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you." (Job 42:5)

Why didn’t our good, strong God prevent the tragedy at Camp Mystic when He could have and should have?

Consider these theodicy truths.

Our God does rule and reign over all. He creates and controls the seasons (Gen. 1:14; Psalm 74:16-17; Psalm 104:19). He creates and controls the water cycles. (Job 26:8-9; Job 5:10; Psalm 135:7; Psalm 147:8) He sends storms. (Jeremiah 10:13; Psalm 148:8; Job 38) God is absolute, complete, and down to the smallest detail, controlling every detail of the universe and every individual's life and death. (Ephesians 1:11)

Theodicy Truth: When everything seems out of control, remind your heart that our God reigns.

Second, our God is good, benevolent, and kind. (Psalm 100:5; Psalm 145:9; John 3:16) Our God is love. (I John 4:8) All His deeds originate from His nature of love.

Theodicy Truth: God demonstrated through Jesus’ death on the cross that God’s love and suffering are not mutually exclusive.

All death, pain, sickness, evil, and natural disasters result from our sin. Our representative, Adam, was told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he disobeyed, the penalty was death. (Genesis 2:17). As a result of Adam’s sin, all of humanity was plunged into sin and received the punishment of mortality-death. Death was never the original design. As a result of sin, not only are all humans born in sin and ultimately experience death, but we also live in a world that is under a curse. There is death, pain, disease, war, homicide, COVID-19, poverty, injustice, and natural disasters all around us. The entire creation looks forward to the day when it is no longer a dangerous, broken place. (Romans 8:22-23)

Theodicy Truth: Sinners and saints alike live on a sin-cursed planet that is dangerous, fragile, and we all suffer the consequence of death, as well as pain, sickness, and natural disasters in between.

Although death is a punishment for our sin, we shouldn’t see all tragedies or natural disasters as a personal punishment on the victims. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus refers to the collapse of the Tower of Siloam in Jerusalem, which killed 18 people. He uses the event to teach and challenge the incorrect belief that all suffering directly results from the victims’ sin. Jesus stated that the victims were not uniquely sinful, and he employed the incident to urge his audience towards repentance. (Luke 13:4-5)

Theodicy Truth: The victims of natural disasters were not any more deserving of judgment than any of us, but rather experienced the paycheck of sin (death) by a natural disaster instead of "natural" death. (Romans 6:23)

Jesus, God’s Son, overcame death and is making everything new. God’s eternal Son became a human at Christmas so that He might reverse the curse. He, the sinless one, was punished on the cross for our sin, died, and rose again on Sunday, overcoming death once and for all. All those who believe in Jesus’ work on the cross and his powerful resurrection become brothers and sisters of Jesus and are adopted into the family of God. The Lord Jesus is presently seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is coming back. When he does, He will completely renovate the planet to its original, pristine condition. No more death, sickness, pain, sorrow, or natural disasters will exist. (Revelations 21:4; Isaiah 25:8)

Theodicy Truth: The world began in a perfect garden, with no disease, sin, or death. It will return to a perfect city where believers in Jesus will live forever without disease, sin, or death. He makes all things new!

These "theodicy truths" can steady our souls in times of confusion. Our all-powerful, loving God, in His Son Jesus, has dealt with sin and death at their core, and He will make all things new. In this in-between, already, but not-yet space that we live in, we, along with creation, groan, cry, weep, and even grieve for that day when He makes all things new.

Pray for those who grieve. Pray for those who wait. Pray for those who search.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!