Fire!

I would not want to be the person responsible for coming up with the headlines in our local newspapers; how many more catchy combinations of words can there be to describe the status of the fires and threat of new fires in our area? With the tinderbox conditions worsening every day, the potential for catastrophic destruction becomes more and more of a reality.

Where is God in all this? Some will say there is no God and therefore He has no role at all-Mother Nature Herself is in charge. Others may consider this crisis situation and say, "If there is a God and He is allowing all this to happen, then I don't want anything to do with Him." Many, who believe in God and believe that He is the one who is supposed to be in charge, may wonder if El Nino has relegated Him to the "Spectators Only" section in the natural disaster arena.

Many are simply afraid-afraid of losing pristine forests, of losing ancient Indian artifacts, of losing their homes, perhaps of losing their life. There is an account in Scripture in which the disciples also found themselves in a life-threatening situation.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:35-40 NIV)

The disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, a body of water very similar to our Flathead Lake, also surrounded by majestic mountains. Cold air sweeping down from the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon often collides with the warm air at the head of the lake to produce sudden, violent storms like the ones that can blow up unexpectedly on the Flathead. Being in a storm in broad daylight in a large boat with a couple of large inboards would be bad enough, but the disciples were in a fishing boat most likely powered by oars…in the dark! The waves were coming over the boat-they knew they were in deep trouble.

Being dark and wet, there was probably no lantern burning for them to see each other. It must have taken a while for them to realize that Jesus, the only reasonable chance they had for survival because of His ties with Divinity, was asleep in the stern! Their actions are not dissimilar to ours when we face disaster. We explore all of our options…realize we have little or none…then call on God in a state of panic. Perhaps we wonder to ourselves when there is an apparent lack of Divine intervention against nature's destructive forces, "God!!?? Are You asleep!!??"

Jesus got up, dealt with the threat to their safety and then pinpointed the disciples' problem in two questions. "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" On the surface, the first question probably seemed humorous to the disciples. "Why are we afraid! Hello!!! The storm-that's why!" But then the second question probably silenced their ridicule. He was basically saying to them, "You either believe there is a God and He can be trusted with life-threatening situations…or you don't."

Faith and fear are like correct and incorrect answers on an exam. You can't have a lot of both. The more incorrect answers you have, the fewer your number of correct answers. Our fear of storms, fires and other disasters will displace our faith in God's sovereign control over them. Conversely, if we have faith that God is ultimately in control of these catastrophic occurrences our fears will not overcome us. Of course, we have the responsibility to do our best to manage our forests as a God-given resource, minimizing excessive forest fire fuels and fighting fires to avoid the destruction of these resources. But, after we've done all we can do, God is either in control or we're in trouble. Faith or fear.