2026 #1
“Send Us Thine Asteroid, Lord”
Among the 150 songs in the book of Psalms, several of those are classified as “imprecatory” in nature. Those particular psalms, such as Psalm 55, 59, and 109 call on God to judge the enemies of the writer. They are quite emotional and the writer often appeals to God for protection in the face of impending conflict.
“Send Us Thine Asteroid, O Lord” could be classified by any reader as imprecatory in nature. But the scale is much larger. The judgement asked for by the writer is on a global scale.
About 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the Earth at the Yucatan peninsula. The impact was an extinction-level event that set in motion the demise of the dinosaurs.
The writer appeals to God for just such an event again. The hymn tune is similar to the Doxology. The verses ask for God’s vengeance to be unleashed on humanity. In the second verse, the writer implores, “Humanity has run its course; Annihilation we endorse.”
At first glance, this hymn is quite depressing indeed. Fortunately, it has never been sung in a church service. The writer is Allen Mowery, a nationally published commercial photographer, designer, and poet originally from Pennsylvania. He hosts the Perfectly Poetic podcast.
Mowery bills “Send Us Thine Asteroid, O Lord” as satire. As such, it has made the rounds of the internet and YouTube since the early 2020’s.
Even though this “imprecatory hymn” is satire, it does remind us of several important truths.
First, God is the Lord of nature. He did, after all, create all matter, energy, space, and time (Gen. 1:1). The asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago had to have been set on its journey many years before the impact. No event, even an extinction-level event catches God by surprise.
Second, the asteroid impact was bad for dinosaurs and other species, but good for us. The mass extinction of the dinosaurs may cause some to question the goodness of God. However, the dinosaurs and other species lost in that event produced biodeposits through their demise. Dr. Hugh Ross, of Reasons To Believe estimates that 76 quadrillion tons of deposits were left behind. The effect of those biodeposits allowed humans to develop a highly technological civilization and the communications technology to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people in far off lands as possible.
God’s providence and fine-tuning, even in a mass extinction event, has had a good result.
Allen Mowery was writing satire in this hymn. But a consideration of the record of nature does move us to really praise the God of the universe (Ps. 19:1).
Listen to “Send Us Thine Asteroid, O Lord” on YouTube.
