Tree-hugging Christians!?!

By association American Evangelicals tend to be linked with the Religious Right which are in turn associated with the Republican Party. Interestingly, since that party is labeled as being apathetic to the environment, Evangelicals are not typically stereotyped as Tree-huggers, and many, indeed, are not. But scripture, in many places, might challenge us to be much more sensitive to God's creation. One such place was this morning's passage in Isaiah.

17 "The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.

19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,

20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

-Isaiah 41: 17-20 (NIV)

God speaks in verse 17 of the poor and needy and then how he wouldn't forsake them and then he states in the following verses how he would encourage them! Now, in this layman's opinion, this doesn't mean they weren't to use these resources that God was providing them, but the primary purpose was not to "pave paradise and put up a parking lot." He said he would so this so that the people may see and know, consider and understand Who did this. For me, that implicitly says that we should be thanking and praising God for what He has provided for us. So perhaps as Christians we shouldn't necessarily be hugging their trunks, but we probably also shouldn't be looking for ways to abuse creation for our own personal gain either.