NOT TRYING TO PLEASE MEN

Tuesday – July 5, 2022

Posted

“On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:4-5

A US navy investigation has revealed that shoddy management and human error caused fuel to leak into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year, poisoning thousands of people and forcing military families to evacuate their homes for hotels. The investigation, on 30 June 2022, is the first detailed account of how jet fuel from the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, a huge second-world-war-era military-run tank farm in the hills above Pearl Harbor, leaked into a well that supplied water to housing and offices in and around the sprawling base. About 6,000 people suffered nausea, headaches, rashes, and other symptoms. After months of resistance, the military in April agreed to an order from the state of Hawaii to drain the tanks and close the Red Hill facility. A separate report the defense department provided to the state department of health on Thursday said December 2024 was the earliest it could defuel the tanks safely. The investigation report listed a cascading series of mistakes from 6 May 2021, when operator error caused a pipe to rupture and 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill when fuel was being transferred between tanks. Concerns the oil might migrate through the aquifer and get into the city’s wells prompted the Honolulu board of water supply in December to shut down a key well serving some 400,000 people. The problems stem from people’s reluctance to elevate the problems early enough to leadership who could have acted.

The Lord desires that we please Him, not the desires of men. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that we should live our lives so that we speak as men and women approved by God.

“Whether men be pleased or displeased, or how they judge you, or what they call you, will seem a small matter to you as their own interest, in comparison to God’s judgment. You live not on them. You can bear their displeasure, censures, and reproaches, if God be but pleased.” – Richard Baxter

God’s Word: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10