“He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there He lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By His blessing they multiply greatly, and He does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.” Psalm 107:33-43
Devotional Thought For The Day
The main point, iterated throughout this psalm and as the final statement, is that we consider the steadfast love of the LORD, rejoice in His goodness and salvation and in His providence over the affairs of both the evil and the righteous, and that we orient our lives to His love. The proclamation of God’s love, and our faith and trust in His love, calls others to consider repentance and reaping the benefits of living under the goodness and love of God in faith.
The real author of “climate change” is identified in these verses. It is an astonishing “sleight of mind” to establish an “empirical” and rational basis for mankind as the cause of “global warming.” At first, it appears that this is an honest critique of human greed; after all, we can see many places on earth where the landscape has been horribly degraded by human efforts to get rich. My own beautiful state of Colorado has many such “mining blights” that are terribly ugly. Other man-made disasters and atrocities abound. However, when it comes to the weather and other “global” issues our activities may have some effect, but the One Who “turns rivers into a desert” and “springs of water into thirsty ground” and “a fruitful land into a salty waste” is clearly “the LORD.” So what looks like humility and a call to greater care for nature is in reality a subtle power grab for mankind, and a clear effort to push God out of the picture as a non-factor in the health of nature, or its demise.
The psalmist acknowledges the reality – that God is in charge of all of nature, and that climate change is often imposed by God as punishment “because of the evil of its inhabitants.” So perhaps our brilliant scientists are right – it is the evil of the inhabitants of the earth which is responsible for “global warming” and all of the potentially devastating consequences it brings. However, a great part of this evil is what the scientists themselves bring to mankind – denying the existence of God with “evolutionary” theories [which their own empirical studies disprove], so that we can view human beings as merely highly developed animals, so that morality is seen as mere human convention and not absolute, so that everyone should be free to do “what turns them on.” Then, in identifying “other” human beings as principally responsible for the consequences, the scientific community [which created and powered the industrial revolution in the first place] can retreat to the higher moral ground in condemning and impoverishing those who are simply trying to make a living in the economic world these scientists created. And God is forgotten, and the real evils of mankind are forgotten, and people remain oblivious to the judgments of God that call all of humanity to repentance.
Likewise, whatever good is found on the earth is also from God. He created all things in the first place, and to this day He upholds all things by His powerful Word [Heb. 1:3]. He causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on all of mankind, both the evil and the just [Matt. 5:45]. And while it may be easier to focus on the dramatic climate changes that have been imposed upon large areas of the Middle East and northern Africa and other parts of the earth, the real point of the psalmist is the goodness and steadfast love of the LORD that is evidenced in all of the habitable places on earth where He “raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.” The real point of the psalmist is the general conditions that prevail upon the earth because of God’s steadfast love and goodness: “He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there He lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By His blessing they multiply greatly, and He does not let their livestock diminish.”
But we should also understand God’s discipline and punishment of evil: “He pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes.” And this too is part of His love, removing those who plague and afflict simple people who rejoice to be dear children of God, living under His merciful love and goodness in repentance and faith. It is too bad that we have so many evil “princes” running things in our nation, who have no consciousness of God and who have abandoned the pursuit of good and who instead work for the degradation of mankind. So let us consider our own place; let us consider the steadfast love of the LORD, and wait patiently both for His discipline upon the evil and for His provident blessings upon those who eagerly look for the return of the Lord Jesus.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, the evil one is ever clever and insidious in drawing people away from reality and into his lies and delusions, that he might snatch them away from You and incorrigibly insulate them in his dark and evil power. These temptations come to us as well in the culture we live in, in the conversations we have with others, in the news that we watch, in the false assumptions that form the basis for modern “reality.” Have mercy on us, dear Lord, and protect and preserve us. Grant us the blessedness and joy to consider Your steadfast love, and to live each day in humble and genuine repentance and faith, oriented to the good You have revealed to us in Your Word. Amen.