Wondering about disasters.

Can somebody help me?
I am struggling to understand something confusing and repetitive. Disasters seems to promote self-doubt. “Why did this happen to me/us?” is a very common reaction. In our country, with our precious freedom of speech, disasters also become the occasions for religious and political speakers to take the situation for assertions that God is punishing people/the nation for something that the spokesperson wants to denounce. And, to the point of my concern, faithful, dedicated Christians seem to be very vulnerable to believing that God sent the natural disaster as a sign of His wrath and disapproval.
Can anyone explain to me why people would believe such a thing?
The God we worship revealed in Scripture has consistently, constantly, and creatively sought to save us in love. There was a time the Bible tells us that God got so fed up with human sin that He created a natural disaster as a sign of his judgment (Genesis 8/9). The end of this story is a precious covenant. God clearly states (Genesis 8:21,22) that He will not destroy people through natural disasters even though the inclination of the human heart is toward evil. Further, God gives a sign/seal of His covenant – the rainbow. (Genesis 9: 13-17). God made a promise to human beings that natural disasters would not be His way of pronouncing judgment on their sin.
And, beyond that covenant of assurance, God sent Jesus as the pure and prime example of His commitment to win us in love to salvation and wholeness of life. Sending down natural disasters is not God’s way. John 3:17 is very clear: God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world. And, while I am fairly certain that God has not been very happy with the ways of Washington, I am completely confident, that God isn’t very happy about His name invoked as the source of natural disasters to make a political point. That seems to me to be taking the name of the Lord in vain.
The idea that God would send a natural disaster to indiscriminately harm thousands of people is completely foreign to Christian faith. Faithful and unfaithful, saints AND sinners are hurt by disasters. Does anyone think it is like God to send wrath on everyone—the faithful and the unfaithful? That’s not Christian. And besides, if God was going to pick up natural disasters as a way of dealing with sin, we would have non-stop natural disasters everywhere we turn all the time. C'mon folks, think it through!
Our God is a God of love and compassion and mercy. United Methodist faith is centered on grace. Be careful of the messages you hear in the airwaves. Test the assertions of those who want your attention, your vote and/or your money against biblical truth. Especially in the vulnerability of doubt in the wake of a personal or natural disaster, be doubly careful what you believe when people make claims about God being the source of death and destruction. That’s an Old Testament concept that even a true reading of the Old Testament won’t support.
But such outlandish heresy does make headlines. It does generate publicity. It does get people’s attention. And, while that makes me cringe, these outrageous statements also open a door – they give us an opportunity to be witnesses to God’s everlasting love, mercy, grace and hope.