Oil pipeline breaks under Yellowstone River.

Last weekend, an oil pipeline under the Yellowstone River in Montana broke, unloading more than 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the river.  The cause of the break is unknown, however some officials think it may be due to unusually high river levels thanks to the spring snow melt.  This high water has made containment of the spilled oil very difficult.  The effects of the spill are yet to be determined, but traces of the spill have been discovered 30 miles down-river, so far.

This spill comes in the wake of a pipeline spill of more than 900,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in July 2010.  The Exxon Mobil spill in Montana came on the heels of safety violations by Exxon (Associated Press, July 4, 2011).

God blessed human beings with the incredible intellect to develop machines that can run on “fossil fuels.”  He also gave man the ingenuity to harvest and refine these fuels.  The problem is that the use of these elements of God’s creation is “according to the workings of man,” and with them come problems.  As the world develops a greater appetite for oil and gasoline, the risk of accidents also increases.  This may be one reason why the earth is waiting to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption,” and why creation “eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19-22).

One day soon Christ will return to the earth and any future technological development will take place according to the will of God, and no longer according to the will of man!