There are lessons from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is obvious that the engineers at BP and their associates have been seeking to “harvest” a crop from a “field” that is surrounded by powerful forces over which they have little or no control. Now the oil is polluting the “fields” of the fishermen in the gulf who seek to “harvest” the crops of shrimp, clams, crabs, oysters, and fish, the sea creatures that form the “produce” of their businesses.

These business men are not much different from the farmers who seek to harvest crops from the land upon which they reside. They all seek to harvest crops from raw materials that they didn’t make from fields that are subject to forces over which they have little or no control to sell products that they really don’t “own”. None of the engineers made the oil that they seek to harvest or the field that they entered to get it. None of the fishermen made any of the creatures that they work to harvest every year or the fields from which they seek to get them. None of the miners made the coal fields from which they seek to harvest their products. None of the engineers made the winds that power the turbines that they have fashioned to produce the electrical currents that they sell. None of the engineers who make the solar panels to harvest the heat of the sun made or can control the forces that create that heat. None of the jewelers made the gold, diamonds, and other precious stones that they buy from harvesters  and fashion into beautiful items to be sold in the commercial markets of the world. And none of the wetlands and marshes along the gulf coasts were made by any of the residents of Louisiana or any other of the states that border that body of water.

Lessons from the oil spill?

All of the creatures and nests and plants that some residents of these states and our politicians are seeking to save and all of the raw materials that are available to human beings who seek to fashion them into products that they can sell or otherwise use and even the products themselves belong to God! (See Psalms 24:1 in the Bible) All of the “farmers” of the world and the merchants who sell their products and the customers who buy them and the dependent human beings who use them are dependent upon the loving God who has provided them with the basic resources to meet their needs. But the harvesting,  the selling,  the use of these products , and even the care of the living creatures in these “fields” must be done within the rules and guidelines that have been established by God otherwise the systems of production and marketing will get broken and there will be serious consequences and losses for everyone.

These are some of the good lessons that we might learn from the oil spill. Let’s talk about this.