By David Taylor, Spiritual Reflections

We as a human race face a number of crucial tests, many brought on by the dwindling resources of the world. Perhaps the most critical and difficult test will be for those of us who live in industrialized nations. I suspect our greatest challenge for survival is going to be how to change from a society that is built on the presupposition of constant but unsustainable growth, to one built on sustainability. As humans, we have never been content with enough. The world’s economies always reward those who strive for more, encouraging the dangerous exploitation of resources.

David Taylor

Time and again we have employed technologies to exploit renewable resources and make a profit from them. But history has shown that over harvesting or exploitation leads to a collapse of those resources. A good example is commercial fishing. Cod at St. Georges fell dramatically with the advent of foreign factory trawlers in the 1970s. After expelling them to the 200-mile limit, the cod rebounded between 1976 and 1982. But by 1995, over fishing brought the total of spawning cod down to record lows, from which they still have not rebounded. We have seen it in agriculture, we have seen it in commercial fishing, we have seen it in water supplies. Sometimes we have learned, in time, to allow those resources to renew and rebound. But sometimes we have driven them to extinction.

We are seeing the same thing in our use of non-renewable resources, like oil and gas. The long-term solution for us as a race is not to more quickly extract every last bit of oil, because sooner or later, it will be gone. And when it is gone, so is our industrial society. Interestingly, it has been shown that the energy available per capita reached its peak for the world in 1979, and has been declining ever since. At some time in the not too distant future, as resources dwindle and population grows and nations industrialize, that decline is going to become a precipitous collapse. To avoid or survive that collapse, we need multiple changes. In addition to new technologies, and new energy sources, we also need to learn to be content with enough, to develop a sustainable lifestyle and economy.

We humans have never been good at saying enough. If you read the 16th chapter of Exodus, you will find the story of God providing manna to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. What many people ignore in that story is that they were instructed to gather only one “omer” per person, because that was enough. Interestingly, it says this was a test; and some of the people failed the test. Those who gathered more than they needed discovered that it spoiled and bred worms. But those who gathered only enough, found that it never spoiled and God always provided more. I suspect the test was partly on their ability to obey, and partly to see if they would trust God to keep providing.

As Christians, we should have the faith and courage to acknowledge and face the challenges that confront us. We should use the gifts and knowledge God has given us to find solutions to our challenges. And we should have the faith and courage to practice self-restraint, acknowledging when enough is enough. Perhaps that, more than our creeds, will demonstrate our faith in God and God’s providence.

(Rev. David Taylor is pastor at Glendale United Methodist Church in Savage and can be contacted at www.glendaleumc.org [2]. He is one of several area pastors who write columns for "Spiritual Reflections.")