Prevention vs. Redemption (Friday Devotional)

 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

- Romans 8:28

Beginning in 1944, Smokey the Bear was an omnipresent mascot for the U.S. Forest Service. In print, radio, and television advertisements, Smokey was a constant reminder to kids and adults alike that the safety of America’s wilderness was up to them: “Only you can prevent forest fires.” For decades, people did everything in their power to ensure that the nation’s forests remained flame-free, preventing fires as much as possible and extinguishing those they came across.

But as naturalists continued studying fire ecology, Smokey started to become a bit of a problem. You see, while manmade wildfires are indeed something to be avoided, natural fires (such as those caused by lightning strikes) are actually necessary for the health of forests. Part of the natural life cycle of the wilderness is for fire to burn up dead trees and underbrush, and decades of fire suppression—aided by Smokey’s campaigns—had led to dense forests with too much fuel. Now whenever a fire inevitably struck, it was virtually impossible to contain.

These days, Smokey is still around, but his website has a page specifically devoted to the “Benefits of Fire,” and his motto has changed to “Only you can prevent wildfires.” A lesson has been learned—as counterintuitive as it may seem, sometimes fire is actually helpful.

In life, we tend to respond to pain with the early absolutism of Smokey the Bear—it is to be prevented, suppressed, and extinguished at all costs. Nobody wants to be hurt, right? So instead of dealing with our feelings, we suppress them. Instead of addressing conflicts, we ignore them. Instead of grieving, we seek any distraction we can find.

But the gospel offers a different perspective on pain. The cross of Christ reminds us that while pain remains an awful reality in our fallen world, God is capable of redeeming it for His purposes. The same God who turned crucifixion into salvation can turn the worst this world has to offer into something glorious.

Our world teaches us to approach pain with fear and trembling, to pray only for escape from its clutches. But may God give you faith to imagine redemption where you can see only misery, to envision God’s goodness when you can only see the world’s badness. Because while no one wants to get burned, there is peace in knowing that sometimes even fire can lead to new life.