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Stewarding Natural Resources

LentEnergy, Sustainability and Fuel JusticeWeek 16 · Day 4

Scripture References

Read First

Old Testament

Psalm 104:24-30

24 LORD, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.

25 There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.

26 There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.

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27 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season.

28 You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.

29 You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

30 You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.

New Testament

Romans 8:19-22

19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

Thought for the Day

Psalm 104 is a long, delighted inventory of God’s world: creatures, seasons, waters, breath, food. It is not an anxious text. It is a praising text. The earth is full of the Lord’s works, and his wisdom is everywhere, even now.

Paul, in Romans 8, hears a different note beneath that praise: the whole creation groans. It waits with what he calls ἀποκαραδοκία, an eager, craning expectation, longing for liberation and for the revealing of God’s children. Christian hope is not escapism from the material world. It is hope for the material world.

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So we can speak of stewardship without panic and without indifference. We can receive the world as gift and also admit that it is burdened. We can repent of waste and cruelty, and still give thanks, because thanksgiving is not the enemy of truth.

Lord, teach us to love what you have made. Give us patience for long repairs and courage for necessary changes. Keep us from despair that paralyses and from comfort that forgets the neighbour. And as creation groans, make us people of hope: heirs in Christ who live as careful subjects in the world, honouring the Creator and protecting the vulnerable.

Prayer Points

Respond
  • Lord, teach us praise that is honest; grateful for creation and truthful about its groaning
  • Give wisdom to those stewarding land, water, and resources; let decisions be patient, just, and accountable
  • Forgive us where we waste and exploit; renew in us restraint and neighbourly responsibility
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  • Protect communities most exposed to environmental harm; provide advocates and timely support
  • Keep the Church hopeful without naivety; steady in prayer and practical love
  • Hasten the day of liberation for creation; and make us faithful in the meantime
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