One September afternoon about a year ago, I reviewed my notes for class and began to draft points in response to various water-related news pieces shared with me the previous week. I was to discuss briefly with my law students the cause and extent of America’s (and the world’s) seemingly endless water issues and injustices like drought, floods, dam failures and drinking water contamination. I would also say if I thought there were viable solutions for the problems and future challenges to come.
At this time, the Holy Spirit had already been ministering to me about my role as a teacher and a scholar. This Ecclesiastes passage had been the theme of my work: The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.
The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.
– Ecclesiastes 12:12-13, NKJV
My default answer was to pivot to the normal rhetoric and attribute troubles to quickly changing climatic and weather patterns and human causes, especially climate change, greed and resource mismanagement. But as I was readying myself, I felt a nudge by the Holy Spirit. I knew then that something was missing. I looked over to the book shelf to find a stack of pocket-sized Declarations of Independence that had been left behind by the professor who occupied the office before me. There were just enough for all 28 students. This was divinely orchestrated by God. Nothing happens by chance.
I made remarks at the start of class and proceeded to pass out the pocket-sized resource. It was fitting since we had already reviewed relevant U.S. constitutional authorities for federal water regulation in a previous session. That day we reviewed our nation’s Declaration which lays out that the people’s rights are divine in origin, sacred and unalienable, while governments are human in origin, answerable to the people and dependent entirely on their consent. Per the Founding Fathers, humans, when failure occurs, would need a standard by which to judge our actions and course correct. That standard is God – the God of the Bible. Of course, the U.S. has never met God’s standard. It has perpetually used God and the Bible to pursue evil endeavors to the detriment of certain people groups – and it still does to this very day. This ia certainly a topic for another day.
Because this was not a Christian university, I thought of how to subtly nail the point about God into the equation without “going too far.” Surely, I couldn’t mention Jesus by name. Or rather, I was too afraid to do so. As an aside, I do believe that the Declaration had less to do with theology than it had to do with America’s appeal to rebel against Great Britain. Nonetheless, the document reveals something about the founding principles of America. To prevent confusion of my position, I’ll say here that I fully believe in the separation of church and state. It is necessary.
I say this to say, I was reminded of this instance in light of the latest news of the fires in Hawaii and along the West Coast and Canada, earthquakes in Morocco, floods in Libya and South Africa and countless other disasters that are taking place around the world daily. The issue of the day in my community is drought and saltwater intrusion. We are set to receive 36 million gallons of water per day for an indefinite period of time. That indefinite period of time, as I see it, is until God decides to send enough water by rain or snowmelt.
The point that I tried to make indirectly to my students that day is one that I can freely and clearly say today: The solutions of men almost always lead to more ruin, misery, death, destruction and war. It is past time to have a real conversation about the true collective spiritual and moral condition of humanity. The heart of man is desperately wicked and beyond cure. It’s above us. Something way more powerful (and invisible) is at play.
Our problems, whether brought on by humans or by nature, are simply symptoms of a greater problem. In fact, every problem humanity has faced throughout history, be it social injustice, greed, slavery, etc., stems from this one underlying problem: sin and death. As long as we are cut off from God, we will fail. That failure is inevitable. God has been gracious enough to reveal that to us in His Word. In the end, those who destroy the earth will be destroyed just before He makes all things new.
We should certainly do everything we can to prepare for and solve societal problems, including climate issues, to the best of our human abilities and wisdom as long as we are here on earth. But the disasters we experience and/or bear witness to are sure to increase in frequency and accelerate. That is a promise. Thankfully, God has not left us hopeless and without a savior in this changing climate. So the good news is that we don’t have to weather this storm alone. We have hope in which we can rest in the present trying times and those to come.
Jesus is that hope – the only hope for humanity.