Cold and Heat

Sleet fell from the sky last week, something rare in the state of Alabama. Remembering that string of 100-plus degree temperatures last summer, my mind recalled a promise the Lord made after Noah disembarked and set foot on dry land after a year on the ark.

I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease (Gen. 8:21-22).

We should not have been surprised that last year brought both “cold and heat.” It’s that way every year. And according to God’s promise, it will continue that way “while the earth remains.”
God’s promise of natural cycles cannot be disrupted by man, no matter what the proponents of Global Warming may claim. We’re told by them that through the production of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon-dioxide emissions, human beings have warmed the earth to the point that we will soon see catastrophic consequences. If you listen to the environmentalists, man has disrupted the seasons, and soon it will be summer year-round and all over the globe. Of course, Global Warming has political ramifications—cleaning up man’s mess will require radical changes in the way that we live, changes that are desired by environmental activists with deep pockets.

Already we are seeing that the dire predictions made by Global Warming advocates are a bit extreme. Despite the drought we suffered last summer, overall 2007 was a typical year, no different from 2006—and 2005, and 2004, and every year back to 2001. The record temperatures set in 1998 have not been surpassed. Since Hurricane Katrina, scientists have been predicting that things are going to get worse, but 2006 and 2007 were two of the calmest hurricane seasons we’ve had in years. We are told there is a consensus in the scientific community saying that man is the cause of Global Warming and that we must do something extreme to reverse course before it is too late. But in 2007 no less than 400 prominent scientists disputed man-made Global Warming claims.

Because I’m not a scientist, I’m not qualified to get into the debate over what to do about climate change. What I would like to stress is that the Creator is still in control of his planet. When it is time for the world to end, he will be the one who will pull the switch (2 Pet. 3:10).

This is not to say that human beings do not have a responsibility to the environment. Stewardship of God’s creation is just as much a biblical concept as the continuity of nature’s cycles (Gen. 1:29-31; Ps. 8:5-8). Responsible Christians will treat the earth with respect, but that doesn’t mean they will get carried away with the politics of environmentalism.

The world is coming to an end—maybe sometime soon, maybe not. Not knowing when the Lord may come, we had better prepare to meet him today (1 Thes. 5:1-6).