The wildfires in LA have been at the forefront of the media's storm lately, and it's got me to thinking about that quote from Fred Rogers' mom "Look for the helpers." It's so easy to focus on the massive destruction and feel hopeless and helpless until we watch how tragedy begins to bring out the best in all of us. People are giving. People are helping. People are rebuilding.
And it's beautiful.
Actually, there's this really cool thing when everything burns down. It renews the earth and makes it better equipped to grow things. As a matter of fact, in many, many parts of the country controlled burns are used to make properties, farms, and land more abundant. Yellowstone burned down a couple decades ago and has grown back stronger. Fire gives us the opportunity to start fresh.
I'm not implying there is anything good about the destruction we are witnessing in California. We hate and grieve those losses as much as we need to grieve and hate them. All I'm saying is that God breathes hope even into that kind of horrific tragedy. Everything He does is good and beautiful.
I'm not going to analyze events like the LA wildfires beyond this fact. The Bible is clear that everything God does is beautiful and good and kind and lovely and pure and holy. Everything He created is GOOD. The rest...the evil, the destruction, the abuse, the harm, the ugliness, the pain...that doesn't come from God.
That comes from sin.
Sin has broken the world. It has twisted what God created and turned it wicked. It has poisoned the very fabric of the earth, our bodies, and our lives. Sin is the enemy. Not God.
The problem? Society is trying to rid itself of God instead of sin.
We are squashing the beautiful. We are tearing the good to pieces. We are tainting the sacred and shouting that it should be considered holy. And then we are looking up to Heaven and blaming God for the natural consequences. How unfair and unjust.
I'm not mad. I have no righteous anger in me as I write this. I'm heartbroken. For all of us. Especially for our next generation. We are leaving all of this on their shoulders...calling it progressive and free expression. Nothing about the direction we are headed is progress...and the expression we are so determined to use is anything but free.
Our children feel it. There are higher instances of depression, anxiety, and suicide then ever amongst our growing young adults. They have more choice, more knowledge, more assistance than we ever could have imagined growing up and yet, it's killing them.
Our world is burning down. And maybe it's just the end. We were told to watch for that. The end will come someday, but that will just be a new beginning too. God will make it all new and beautiful again. If we belong to His Kingdom, we don't have to fear the end.
But maybe right now, we are witnessing a kind of mercy that we don't deserve. A chance to rethink our choices and repent of the ways we've added to the sins that are tearing our world to pieces. Maybe we have an opportunity to watch God build things back better and more beautiful.
The pictures and videos coming out of fires like the ones in California are a clear vision of hell...of consequences...of the destruction that awaits when we reject, mock, and disdain what God has created good, beautiful, and holy. I don't believe they are a message sent by God, but I do read their message loud and clear.
Turn back from sin and to the God who makes all things beautiful.
"To all who mourn in Israel He will give beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory." Isaiah 61:3
Rebuild us, Lord Jesus.
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