... who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. – Psalm 65:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 5, 2013): Psalm 65

I recently listened to a speaker spout off about the lack of evidence for global warning. Unfortunately, the man speaking had a very public audience and absolutely no scientific knowledge. His point was that we do not know definitively that the current global temperature increase is not part of a regular cycle of temperature change happening on the planet. And he is right, we do not know that. But we also do not know definitively that the current temperature change is not of our doing. What we do know definitively is that the human race is causing irreparable harm to the planet, and temperature change is quite probably part of that damage. And we need to understand that.

The Christian response to the ecological damage of the planet has been disappointing. Too often it would seem that we have seen the planet as a consumable designed to be used up by us. The argument is that God placed all of these things here for us to use. That he created the planet perfectly for us. God’s control of the waves is but one of the elements that makes life possible on the planet. If the moon were closer to the earth, the tides would rip the planet apart. Destruction of the polar icecaps could also increase the volatility of the seas. As God designed the planet, all of these things are under his control. And because they are under his control, life is possible. But the Christian understanding also seems to be that because God has set them up in their current formation, nothing that man could ever do would upset the balance.

But God also gave us the ability to make choices. Some of the choices that we make are uninformed because we do not know - but not all of our choices fall into the category. And sometimes the ignorant choices that we make are because we choose not to know – and that is just not acceptable.

Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to take care of it. He was the first ecologist, but all of the people that followed were to take up the task. And we have failed in that task – we have failed to be the stewards of all that God created just for us. The only real questions are how bad the damage is and is there anything that we can do to recover? And I think it is time for the church to take the lead in the protection of the planet rather than arguing over what we want to do with it. It is time to take our responsibility as stewards of this world seriously and not assume that we are unable to upset the balance – because that just might be the first calling God has placed on any of our hearts.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 68