COLD AND HEAT

                                                                        Cold and Heat

I have a confession to make. I think it was me that caused global warming! I used to live in Manitoba where the winters are long and very, very cold. Minus 40 degrees is quite common. So, to combat the cold, I used to pray to God that He would warm the place up. Of course, (I suppose to teach me patience) I would have to wait till spring for God to answer my prayer. Manitoba summers are beautiful. Very short, but very beautiful.

I then discovered the solution to my aversion to the cold. Thank You Lord! Move somewhere warmer! So, I moved from Manitoba to Queensland, the place where many people have the slogan “Endless Summer” on their car’s number plate. My brother-in-law used to say that you could plant an old stick in the ground here, and it would grow! Paradise! And that is exactly what it reminds me of. It was like something out of the Bible when I arrived in Australia. “The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13b). Australian wines are some of the best in the world. But I digress.

Sometimes it gets a bit too hot here in summer. But I don’t complain about the heat. I simply remember the minus 40-degree winters I left behind and thank God for answering my prayer about warming the place up. But not everyone shares my views. Some people hate the heat that much that they glue themselves to roads and valuable paintings to draw attention to themselves because they think that the world is ending because of global warming. They obviously have a different way of thinking to me. They’re all graphs, charts, and statistics. Me? I’m all Bible. They clearly live in a world without God. Me? I live in God’s world with God. They have an Atheist worldview. Mine is Biblical. This world is all they have. That is why they are so passionate about getting even the vulnerable and the elderly to turn off their heating and cooling appliances. As Hell awaits them, it’s all about the here-and-now, about saving the planet, their planet. But who owns the earth?

“The earth is the LORD’s and all its fulness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psa. 24:1). So, the mountains dripping with wine are His. But so is everyone who lives here. Therefore, if you can’t see God in and among your graphs, charts, and statistics, you simply sound like the song title, “The Man Who Stole the World.” But God won’t allow you to steal the world. It is His world. And that is the world I live in. Sorry non-Christians. The earth is part of our inheritance as Christians. God is giving it to us (Psa. 37:11; Matt. 5:5; Rom. 4:13).

So, what about all this global warming? Well, as you’ve seen, like the old Marilyn Munroe/Tony Curtis movie, “Some Like it Hot.” However, like the old BBC sitcom series, you may be one who complains, “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum.” But, and here’s the rub, if you have been neglecting to include God in your weather forecast, then you are part of your perceived problem. If you really believe that the land is being baked to death by human mismanagement, then rather than annoying your fellow humans (e.g., by disrupting their lives by gluing or chaining yourself to things or forcing up the price of petrol and electricity by insisting on taxpayer funded renewables etc.), then tug on the arms of the people of God and ask them to pray. Remember, it’s God’s world not yours.

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:13-14).

So there you have it. Just as Jonah was the cause and solution of a shipwrecking storm, so God’s people are the cause and solution to any problems with the land, perceived or otherwise. In other words, the planet earth all about God and His people. Therefore, if you do not factor God into your scheme to cure whatever your perceived planet ills are, then you yourself are a major part of the problem. So, I urge you therefore to be part of the solution. Humble yourself, pray and seek God’s face, seek His forgiveness for your sins. Turn from your wicked ways, and, while you're at it, ask Him to heal the land. In other words, repent and believe in the gospel. Trust all the promises of God which are fulfilled in the resurrected and ascended and ruler from heaven, Jesus Christ.

Ponder and be comforted by the following promise of God: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).