Of course He does. How strange that such should even be a question. But of course, He also sends such strange questions. There is nothing that comes to pass that overpowers God, that He did not plan from before all time, that He could not stop. God is not a storm watcher, but a storm maker. Hurricanes are profoundly destructive events. Properties are destroyed, lives are lost, whole cities are devastated. All because God ordained that such would be.
How do we know? For two compelling reasons. First, He’s God. Once there was God and nothing else. Everything that comes after is a creature, made by Him, for Him. Everything else depends on Him for their own existence, and for their own power. There is no being, and no power that does not find its ultimate source in His will.
Second, and just as compelling, we know because He has told us so. That God is sovereign over calamity isn’t something embarrassing about God that He is in heaven hoping we never figure out. It is something He delights in, something He is proud of. Consider these words spoken to King Cyrus, himself a plenty destructive fellow, through the prophet Isaiah:
“Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the Lord,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things’ (45:1-7).
Do you hear God boasting? “Oh,” you might object, “these are all good things God did for Cyrus. They’re not bad things.” But you don’t want to make that objection. Because it is often the case that one man’s blessing is another man’s curse. Those doors that God opened? They were gates protecting the cities that Cyrus conquered. The king’s armor that God unbuckled, the king put that on for his protection, but Cyrus took him down. God creates calamity, for His glory.
Can we then conclude that those harmed but hurricanes are under God’s judgment? Are they worse sinners than the rest of us? They may be, or they may not be. On more than one occasion God sent wicked nation A to punish wicked nation B when A was more wicked than B. His ways are not our ways. His methods are often inscrutable. We would be wise to remember we’re not wise enough to figure Him out. And we ought to be humble enough to remember that He is almighty over all.