Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 12, 2017): Psalm 74
According to some, Stephen Hawking has
become the father of the modern-day doomsday prophets. Recently, Hawking
informed us that we need to find another planet on which to live within the
next century. Apparently, that is all the
life that he believes that this world has
left in it, so it is time for the people of the Earth to make plans to move (raising the stakes for the intended colonization of Mars proposed for the
next few decades). For Hawking, either we have passed the point where the
planet can be saved, or we are simply unwilling
to listen and make the changes necessary to save the Earth. Or, more likely, Hawking’s warning is supposed to be the shock message that will spark us into action
and save the world before it is too late.
Unfortunately, we hear words like Hawking’s, usually with a much
longer timeline, and routinely ignore them. We trust that something will happen
to change the prediction. Science will find a
magic pill that will reverse the damage that we have done to our atmosphere
long before the air becomes too poisoned for us to breathe, or before climate
change creates either a planet full of violent storms or one with a runaway
greenhouse effect that has become a hothouse too warm for life (just like
science will develop a magic pill that will allow me to lose weight and stay in
shape without diet or exercise.) But the reality is that if nothing
changes, the day will come when a select few will leave the planet on a new Ark
in order to save the human race. And when
that time comes, probably more than a hundred years in the future, but maybe
not much more, we won’t be able to say that we didn’t hear the message. Our
only reaction will be that we refused to listen.
The Psalmist makes some amazing
comments in his psalm of lament. He starts by complaining that there were no
signs from God, nothing was witnessed that
had led the people to believe that this might happen. The scripture record seems to full of exhortations to the children
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to follow the teachings of God. And all of Judah
had watched as the Northern Kingdom had been carried into captivity by Assyria
for their disobedience. Surely there were signs from God; signs that had been ignored.
The second surprising comment was that
there were no prophets left. But it is likely that, at the time of the writing of the Psalm, Jeremiah was still active
in Judah, and Ezekiel was prophesying in
either Judah or Babylon. And even if Jeremiah and Ezekiel were gone, they had
never listened to the words of the prophets anyway. The prophets spoke and were routinely ignored. Judah had refused to listen to the words that proceeded from the
mouths of the prophets.
Such seems to be the fate of prophets
of every age. We hear the prophets when they speak words that we want to hear, and we ignore them when their message
becomes inconvenient. And it doesn’t matter if the prophet’s names are
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or Stephen Hawking. We just
refuse to hear.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 79
No comments:
Post a Comment