The Colorado River watershed (Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming) is in an extended drought. It’s lasted so long—starting in the year 2000—that it’s called a megadrought. Scientists who study historical data using tools like tree ring samples and soil moisture analysis are now saying that this is the driest multi-decade period in the region since at least the year 800.
In normal times, melting winter snow in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming is stored in Lake Mead (which began to fill in 1936) and Lake Powell (which began to fill in 1963.) This 26-year-long period of below normal snow, combined with extreme summer heat and record water use has caused these two reservoirs (the largest two reservoirs in America) to fall to their lowest levels ever recorded.
Government response has been disappointing but predictable. States and the federal government were slow to respond. Now, states are blaming other states and filing lawsuits against each other and the federal government. Current administrations are blaming previous administrations for not doing anything but aren’t doing much themselves. Water users of all types are blaming others—farmers, cities. data processing centers, grass lawns, environmentalists, climate change deniers, etc. Current candidates for office promise that they can fix it if we elect them—but they provide no credible plan. Some say, despite abundance evidence to the contrary, that it’s not really an issue.
But lawsuits don’t provide additional water. Blaming others doesn’t provide additional water. Pretending the issue isn’t real doesn’t provide additional water. Promises to “fix it” don’t provide additional water.
Clearly, governments have much work to do.
But what about us? What is the Christian response to drought? I’ve heard nothing from any Christian organization, nor have I (regrettably) brought it to my own church’s notice—until now. Maybe governments can’t solve the problem until we—God’s people—do something.
The Book of Jeremiah gives us insight. Jeremiah (in chapter 14) described a drought in vivid terms:
“1This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2 ‘Judah mourns,
her cities languish;
they wail for the land,
and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
3 The nobles send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns
but find no water.
They return with their jars unfilled;
dismayed and despairing,
they cover their heads.
4 The ground is cracked
because there is no rain in the land;
the farmers are dismayed
and cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field
deserts her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
and pant like jackals;
their eyes fail
for lack of food.’” (Jeremiah 14:1-6, NIV)
That’s the most vivid and accurate description of a drought in the desert that I have ever read. We’re not at that point yet, but if nothing changes, we could be there soon.
What did God in the following verses and chapters teach Jeremiah? He taught Jeremiah the same thing God taught other generations of believers. The short version of God’s truth is this, “When trouble comes, God’s people are to look at themselves, repent of their wrongdoing, and turn to God in prayer.” Any kind of trouble (war, disease, famine, drought, etc.) is as much a spiritual issue as it is a physical issue.
So far, we have treated drought only as a physical issue. We let the courts decide who gets limited resources. We expect engineers and politicians to figure out how to obtain more water. (Piping it from somewhere else? Desalinization? Purifying wastewater?) We let city managers and farmers decide how to make limited supplies go further. We let climatologists, meteorologists, and other scientists figure out how to coax more snow from the atmosphere.
None of these are bad. All of them may be needed.
But let’s not ignore the spiritual issue.
God taught Solomon the same truth that Jeremiah taught the people. In what is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible, God said,
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14, NIV)
Yes, it is a physical issue, but it is also a spiritual issue. We need to take the Bible seriously and do what the Bible teaches us to do in 2 Chronicles and in Jeremiah and throughout the Bible.
We must humble ourselves. We must stop believing that we have all the answers and that we can fix all things. God is God. We are not. We can’t fix this. We can’t make it snow. We can’t call down rain.
We must pray. Individually. In prayer meetings. In churches and classes. Maybe even in a mass prayer service in a public place. Let’s go on record that God and only God can fix this. If we do so, let’s not make it political. We’re not calling on the government to do anything. We’re calling on God to end the drought.
We must seek God. We don’t need more casual Christianity and nominal faith. We need people who live for Jesus and who call upon God knowing that there is no other way to love and no other way for our country to receive healing. Desperate times call for radical believers.
We must turn from our own wicked ways. We are not the godly nation we claim to be. In many ways we are no longer even a good nation. We have lost our way. Our national sins are too many to be listed here, but each of us must start with our own and confess them and turn away from them.
The drought is a physical problem, and steps will need to be taken. But the drought will not end—I believe—until God’s people do what God has taught us to do.
Humble ourselves. Pray. Seek God. And turn from our ungodly ways. When we do what God has called us to do, then we can expect God to do what He promised—heal our land!
By Pastor Jack Marslender ·