So, is New York on God’s “To Smite” list?

It’s hard not to wonder that, at least a little, when you look at the trials wreaked upon the city this summer: a geyser erupting in Midtown; a gaping hole opened to the steaming depths of hell (or Con Ed — whatever); a blackout in the richest, most symbolic part of town, the Upper East Side; sweltering heat; a price hike at Starbucks; and now, the Flood.

Trees flying, walls crumbling, thunder crashing — Noah would have felt right at home on Wednesday, especially if he didn’t listen to the radio (which, frankly, he might not have even known how to turn on) and tried to commute to work.

Was this, in fact, the mighty hand of a wrathful God?

I made some calls.

It wasn’t, the author of the best seller “Armageddon, Oil and Terror: What the Bible Says About the Future of America,” Mark Hitchcock, said. The storm was just what you get in a fallen, post-Eden world, not the work of God gone wild. And, he said, to suggest that it was “is sort of like crying wolf.” That’s especially ill advised at the moment, as he expects the Lord to rain down something much, much worse — possibly soon.

“This is what you might call a ‘foreshadow’ of what it’s going to be like,” Mr. Hitchcock said of the storm. God will torment the tristate area (and elsewhere), but not until after the rapture, when he brings all his believers up to heaven. Those “left behind” will suffer tribulations so grave, the storm will look like a backyard sprinkler. “But,” he added, “we’re not in that period yet.”

Which is good news for Mayor Bloomberg’s presidential aspirations.

A rabbi at the UJA-Federation of New York, Michael Paley, agreed that the storm was not an act of God, per se, “but that doesn’t mean there was no meaning in it.”

On the most basic level, he said, there was meaning for the city: Fix the infrastructure, already! But on a grander scale, he said, great trials can serve as reminders for us to come together and take care of each other.

“Think about the tsunami,” the rabbi said. “After that terrible disaster, the whole world gathered to support those people. Jews, Christians — everyone reached out to Hindus and Muslims. So even though tornados don’t come from God,” he said, their message does: Awake and care.

A professor of religion at St. Olaf College, Peder Jothen, got the same message: “I’m a Lutheran, and to us what matters isn’t saying, ‘Oh, God caused this!’ What matters is saying, ‘We have to go out and help the people who lost their homes, or who were injured.'”

The only one, it seems, who did not find a deeper meaning in the storm was God — or at least the man known as Mr. Deity on mrdeity.com.

“Look, I’ve been on vacation, and when I came back, my TiVO was filled with many of the shows I appreciate, including the end of ‘The Sopranos,'” he said. “When I watched it, I was very unhappy with the series finale, so …” He sent a tornado.

“My aim is not what it used to be,” he sighed. “I meant to hit New Jersey.”

Still annoyed, he intends to punish the Garden State soon, and while he wouldn’t say exactly how, he did suggest to this reporter, “Don’t eat at any fast food restaurants in the next few weeks.”

You heard it here first.