Often these kinds of things are considered “acts of god” but this is a terrible misnomer. It implies that the Divine has sent this thing. The Divine never sends plagues, poverty or disaster. The Divine is the author of LIFE not death. 24/7 it radiates health, affluence, harmony and happiness on all. But people, for various reasons, are disconnected from it and thus can’t avail of it. Also we must understand that the Universe was constructed in a certain way – with certain laws. No person or government can violate these laws without some sort of consequence. It is the Law that punishes, not the Divine directly. We can compare this to a child inadvertently putting his hand in the electric socket. The child will get a nasty shocCk. Yes, the child is innocent, but it has violated a natural law. Electricity is not punishing the child. Electricity is just being what it is – following its own nature. Electricity doesn’t hate the child. It is ready to serve him or her in every way – light up the house, cool the house in summer and heat it in winter. It is ready to power his appliances. But electricity has its laws and one must conform to them. So it is with the universe

The Divine has ordained free will – for the human creation. Other species do not have this. Any human is free to think and feel as he or she pleases. This, according to the sages, was the Divine’s greatest gift to humanity. The human creation was something unique. The Divine did not want robots or automatons. It wanted a species that would understand and conform to the universal laws of its own free will. This would entail many adventures and catastrophes as the human learned through trial and error what the universal law is all about. This was known from the beginning. But free will is not really free. It has consequences. Bad choices create suffering and sickness. This is how humans learn. It is the negative consequences – karma as they call it in the East – that teach us what is right. Thus the child learns not to put his hand in the electric socket by the shock that happens. So it is with all of our choices.