Climate Change

The weather this year in Florida has been quite unusual. Although Florida typically receives a considerable amount of rain during the summer months, even life-long Floridians have attested that more and heavier rains have fallen this year than in any other year they can remember in their lifetimes.

With all this rain, I was surprised recently to discover a very large brown spot in my garden. It was in an area I had never had any trouble with. Usually, this area has been consistently lush and green – even in the dryer months – over the past eighteen years that I’ve lived in my current home. So, I rang our lawn care specialist to come take a look. I thought perhaps I had some infestation by a destructive insect. But when the technician checked the lawn, he reported no insect activity and concluded it was a fungus caused by too much water.

His solution was for me to water my lawn less. I responded that I wasn’t watering the lawn at all during this time, because our rainfall had been so heavy. He then recommended I take more drastic measures to install a ‘French drain’ or have landscape specialists bring equipment in and relevel my lawn to provide better drainage. Both options would require significant investment of time and money and would require a major change to the way I’d been doing things.

As I considered my options, it occurred to me that we’re in similar shifting spiritual times. We’re observing some serious changes in both our physical and spiritual climate. And, just as what I’ve done for eighteen years with my garden is no longer working in the face of climate changes we’ve experienced, so too, the significant shifts in our spiritual climate require a reassessment of how we’ve been doing things on that front. If I don’t make changes to how I care for my lawn, and the climate continues to shift as it has, I’ll face the death of my lawn’s fruitfulness.

Perhaps what we’ve done up until now to maintain and grow in our relationship with the Lord, and help others do the same, has been quite effective. But just because it’s been effective in the past, this may not mean we’ll meet with continued success if, in fact, the spiritual climate around us is changing drastically. We must be prepared to hear from the Lord and adjust our strategies.

The message of the Kingdom is unchanging, but we must remain open to adjusting how we go about carrying out His Kingdom work as we face shifts in the spiritual climate of this world. We must be willing to make even quite significant sacrifices and adjustments to our approaches, when the Lord reveals the need to do so. And we need supernatural wisdom from God to know what changes to make.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You that You are unchanging, even as I face significant shifts in the physical and spiritual climate around me. I know that You are sovereign over all. Please give me wisdom, knowledge, and discernment to navigate the challenges I face in these shifting climates. Amen.