To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are. Genesis 3:17-19

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:19-23

It seems that nearly every day, as I catch a glimpse of the news, there is some massive natural disaster occurring in the U.S. and around the world. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, sustained droughts, massive forest fires, record snowstorms, and earthquakes abound. Of course, the scientific view is that global warming is the primary cause of those devastating acts of nature. The presumed solution is to drastically reduce emissions, cut down pollutants in the atmosphere, and to ban cows altogether since they are huge contributors of methane gas that is leading the way to global warming.

I would like to offer another explanation for your consideration. In both the Old and New Testaments, natural disasters are linked to sin. Adam and Eve were given authority over the earth. They were told to rule over it and subdue it. When Adam sinned, he forfeited his authority to Satan and the result was that the earth would no longer be a greenhouse for man in which all of his labors would bear tremendous fruit. Instead, the climate would shift so that man would have to struggle for survival and scratch a living out of hard, unforgiving earth covered with thorns and thistles.

If you browse Deuteronomy 28, the chapter on blessings and curses, you will see that righteousness will bring blessings of fruitful crops, healthy herds, and timely rains. Sin and disobedience, however, would be linked to drought, crop failure, diseased herds, and so forth:

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.           Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks…The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:15-24

In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that God’s intention was for creation (nature) to be a blessing and a partner with man to produce abundance. His intention was frustrated by Adam’s sin and creation (the natural realm) was made subject to decay. The curse attached to man’s rebellion directly affected creation. Adam’s sin frustrated God’s design and purposes in the earth. There will, of course, come a time when man and creation both will be restored to God’s initial purposes, but in the meantime, creation (nature) seems to be at odds with humanity.

When men or nations are righteous, God promises to mitigate the general curse placed on mankind and send blessings that overrule the curse. Those blessings include health, prosperity, peace, and beneficial weather patterns. However, as a man or nation continues to live in unbelief and rebellion, God lifts his hand and lets the curse have it’s way with those who say they want no part of God. It’s a simple equation: No God, no protection. I believe there is a direct correlation between unrighteousness and natural disasters. It is the sin of man and rejection of God that brings destructive weather patterns rather than global warming. Without the protective covering of God – called blessings – man is at the mercy of an environmental system gone wrong. It is subject to decay and decay always is progressive – it gets worse as time passes unless someone intervenes. When the Genesis curse is operating, men experience the judgment of God against sin. Curses are the natural order of things in a broken universe. Blessings are the exception carved out for those upon whom God’s grace is poured.

We live in an age when all this talk about the judgment of God seems old fashioned and unsophisticated. And yet, the idea that man can thwart the forces of nature with political policy and technology is akin to the mindset that built the Tower of Babel – self-sufficient men who discount and reject the notion of a holy God who judges men and nations for their deeds. The key to overcoming natural disasters and devastating weather patterns will not be found in science or politics but in prayer closets and churches oozing repentance. Scripture declares this principal:

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks…The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you…The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.       The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Deuteronomy 28:1-13

For centuries, great scientists believed that their discoveries revealed God – his order, his genius, his creative powers. In the last few centuries, much of the scientific community and educational systems of the world have tried to demonstrate the irrelevance of God. God, who holds all things together by the power of his word, is not irrelevant. He is essential and will show himself to be so. An abundance of natural disasters declare that something is wrong. However, it is not the temperature of the earth that needs adjusting but the temperature of men’s hearts. To take God out of the equation is truly disastrous. These are just a few thoughts for your consideration as you watch the news over the next few weeks. Blessings in Him as always.