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God’s Earth in Our Hands: Responding to a World Ablaze

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, photo by pilot Jake Willis

“You Care for the earth and make it fruitful, you greatly enrich it.” Psalm 65:9 REB

“The meadowlands are covered with flocks,
the valleys decked out in grain
they shout for joy;
they break out in song!” Psalm 65:13 CEV

Psalm 65 sings of the joy of creation, and God’s providence. The earth is flush and green, harvest is plentiful, and we see the abundance of God.

But what does it mean when the Earth is on fire? What does that say about God, and our responsibility to the earth we have been given to care for?

Air has been treacherous on recent days, rated between very unhealthy and hazardous. When I stepped outside one day last week, smoke was hanging in the air, coming from the forest fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Superior National Forest, as it drifted across the country. There were thirteen fires burning in the Boundary Waters at the time, while north of the Boundary Waters,  more than nine hundred fires were blazing in Canada . . . Burning through rain starved forests. Fires have destroyed forests across North America and also in Europe this summer. The world seems to be aflame.

Meteorologists point to the changing climate, for the vast number of fires. Where I live in Minnesota, it is difficult to ignore our changing climate. Every farmer knows their planting and harvest seasons are different, than in their childhood.   Hotter summers,  and less dependable rainfall are symptoms of an unhealthy planet.

The thing is, we have been warned. For decades, scientists have been warning us we were reaching a climate tipping point. Their prophetic words are now visible, as oceans rise, storms grow more fierce, glaciers melt, island nations are in danger of disappearing, and fires rage around the globe.

Many scoff at the terms Climate Change or Global Warming, yet scoffing does not take the truth away. More than ever our world, needs to act, reducing the greenhouses gasses negatively impacting the earth. The Paris Climate Accord was a step in the right direction. To our shame we pulled out of it, more concerned with oil company profits than the well-being of the earth and all of God’s children.

We’re in this world together. What affects one person in some way affects all of us. In the mist of this global crisis, as the earth warms, the question is not so much what we should have done, but what we can do now, to prevent climate change from  getting even worse, preserving what we have.

To do that takes cooperation, commitment to the common good, and a willingness to put into place actions that will turn this destructive cycle around. There is no more room for denial, or pretending fossil fuels do not affect the environment, nor time to delay. Acting now is a moral imperative.

So, where is God in all of this? God is in the prophetic voices naming the crisis, demanding we act. God is calling us, to let go of our political biases and our wavering commitments. God is reminding us of creation’s gifts, given to us. Pleading with us, to protect and care for our home, even as God cares for all of creation . . . even as God cares for each of us.

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16 thoughts on “God’s Earth in Our Hands: Responding to a World Ablaze”

    • There are a lot mixed answers to who is emitting the most. I found China, U.S. and India in that order, in several places. But most of the hard data is from 2022. Another place showed both the U.S. and China declining, and has Japan in 4th place. I know China has been focusing on extensive solar energy, and electric vesicles, which is part of the reason they are managing the world oil shortage, better than previous times. But, I wonder how much carbon the forest fires are putting back into the environment.

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      • Agree. I wondered that too. It’s scary that Gates wants to flood the skies with particles to reduce sunlight, but just one big volcano burst would destroy plant life if added to this nefarious plot. I’m against the Paris Accords as it would impoverish Western nations and do little to stop climate change. I believe in free market solutions. We finally got electric cars and hybrids because customers demanded it.

        Have a good week.

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        • I do think there are market solutions working to combat the issues. Some of the far out, shielding the earth ideas are scary and could have a serious backfire effect. Some countries are making serious efforts to prepare for significant coastal flooding. We seem to be very slow in that preparation. That ought to be something everyone could agree on.

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          • I’m skeptical about the coastal flooding since the rich elites are buying mammoth mansions with extensive lawns near ocean fronts.

            But I am all for market solutions. People are endlessly creative if not hindered by their government.

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          • It may depend where you are living, to notice the sea level changes. I live in Minnesota, far from the sea, but an area that has had some of the most significant seasonal changes, so it really obvious to us. In Northern Minnesota, the Moose population is struggling with hotter summers, and shorter winters, making them more vulnerable to diseases. There are places in the Philippines that flood during high tides, and actually Miami has street flooding regularly as well. What is weird to me though, is that the ocean can rise more in Southeast Asia, and less in another part of the world. It is strangely inconsistent how it rises.

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          • We are living in the End Times. Jesus did warn that there would be weather changes. We actually had below normal temperatures this Summer in the Phoenix valley, 12-15 degrees below normal for over a week. Enjoyed it immensely. Just had another rainstorm overnight. We’re supposed to have a “wetter than normal” monsoon season. Looking forward to it. Rains quite hard here. Huge raindrops. Much different than the Seattle area where I grew up.

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    • I remember that when we pulled out of the Paris Accord, other countries pulled back on their efforts, wondering why they should work at this, if the U.S. wasn’t going to. We seem to be in an endless cycle of making efforts to restrict greenhouse gases, until the next election when all of that is scrapped, and denial sets in. When I first talked about global warming in the late 80’s and 90’s, people were listening, but then the rural radio stations started playing syndicated programs, that told them Global Warming wasn’t true. Those stations play as background noise on farms and in factories, since they include local news.

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