We continue our series of prayers for field areas today. Our hope is that each prayer will encourage those in a particular subject area in the specificity of their daily work, while also giving those in other fields a glimpse into how their colleagues are glorifying God in different areas of inquiry. If you’re inspired by the series and want to contribute a prayer, you can submit a prayer for those in your field area and a short bio here. For others in the series, click here.
Oh Lord our God,
We are amazed that you chose us to be your beloved children, to go and do works in your name (Eph. 2:10);
We acknowledge the person and Godship of Jesus as the creative master as well as the ultimate redeemer of all Creation, both spiritual and material;
We are humbled by the way You created us like you, and yet so small and weak in comparison;
We are thrilled to observe and study the beautiful parts of Your Creation and the ways that these components all operate together to sustain life;
We are called to serve You and Your Kingdom with the gifts of mind and heart entrusted in us;
We seek to know Your will in the service as Kingdom agents;
We desire that Science be a powerful, ordained tool in understanding Creation;
We specifically ask for your wisdom in taking knowledge of the Earth and making it known to all people, dispelling human distrust and distortions of Science.
We pray for protection from the evils resident in our own self-interests as well as in the human institutions that are motivated by the plans of the Evil One;
We need discernment in making good plans for projects that glorify You;
We pray for strength to endure the inevitable frustrations of science practice;
We seek godly personal and working relationships with peoples from all the diversity on Earth;
We crave the unity of the Holy Spirit as our guide in confronting complex challenges;
We particularly yearn to see our fields of study and practice bring real healing to our only habitat, so badly degraded by human ignorance and sin;
We ask your blessing on those who work on the Land and its precious design to bear the fruit of life and beauty; on those who work for the protection and essential values of Water, on and below land, in the air, and in the seas; on those who study aspects of Creation that are potentially hazardous, especially when poorly understood; on those striving to learn about the intimate connections among all living things in harmony with the inanimate Creation; and on those so much needed to winningly communicate the underappreciated Holy importance of Earth as in our greater mandate to be stewards of all your treasures.
Jeffrey K. Greenberg is Professor Emeritus of Geology from Wheaton College, serving from 1986-2018. His undergrad Geology degree is from Florida State University (1973), with Geology-Geophysics Masters from The University of Kentucky (1975), and Doctorate in Geology-Geochemistry from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1978). He served as Precambrian Geologist and Associate Professor of Environmental Resources for the University of Wisconsin prior to Wheaton College (1978-1986). Greenberg’s research experience includes many forms of “Hard Rock†Geology (Tectonics, Structure, Petrology, and mapping crystalline-rock terrains), as well as development of applied geoscience in community development practice. His work with many geology majors and leadership of global ministries (primarily Youth With A Mission-YWAM), has taken place in Tanzania, Haiti, Republic of South Africa, and Kosovo. He has also contributed to broader outreach “bridge-building†efforts as Vice President of the NGO, Geology in the Public Interest, Co-convener of The Geoscience and Society Summit workshop initiative in Stockholm, 2019, Co-editor of the GSA (Geological Society of America) Special Paper 520, Geoscience for the Public Good and Global Development, Principle Investigator-Director of a student-executed natural waste-water system investigation, and Templeton Foundation-Fuller Seminary STEAM (Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries) Program, as Project Leader (Called-to-Science Internet site, devoted to recruiting Christian young people into Science as a Kingdom vocation).