| Catechesis Notes for the Week —Psalm 107:33-43—A Meditation on How the Lord Governs Creation—The secular atheistic humanism of our day teaches us that man is powerful enough to control “mother nature” and to manipulate the planet in such a way as to control the weather and to stop hurricanes, drought, heatwaves, and floods. This is not only a lie, but a confession of the idolatry of a new kind of paganism, wherein modern man has almost a “religious belief” that he can control the planet and prevent the world from its inevitable destruction. Against this backdrop, the conclusion of Psalm 107 invites us to confess that the Lord is both God and the Creator and Sustainer of this world. When “natural disasters” happen, according to the psalmist, it is the Lord who is in charge but for His own purposes that often confound and contradict human reason. Psalm 107 invites us to trust in the Lord as Creator and Savior of His people and to rely upon Him when we struggle under the curse of the fall and the distress this brings upon the earth: “He turns rivers into a wilderness, and watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell…” Let us humbly exercise the dominion God has entrusted to mankind at creation but let us never think that we can play God. Many things are beyond our control. As Christians, we are called to trust in the Lord above all things. The curse of the fall exists for a reason. The sweat, toil, and suffering are sent by God as an instrument through which, by the Word of truth, we are called to repentance and faith in Christ alone for life and salvation. |
Peace Lutheran Church
Sussex, Wisconsin