by Maddi Gillel
My husband and I lived in Africa from 2006-2008. Within a month of arriving there, the thoughts were coming to me: “how can a continent have so many complex problems? (aids – 30%, fractured families, rampant diseases, immorality, polygamy, competing tribes, dishonesty, parasites in all fresh water –as opposed to sea water, high infant mortality, abuse, corrupt leaders and officials, etc. ) – there must be a book that explains it.” Then I began to realize that there was a book, called the SCRIPTURES. I began to do a word search of ‘the land’ and the answers were all there.
The most memorable time in the Old Testament was of Moses attempting to persuade Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go free. Pharaoh refused and there was a plague every time he did so. Remember the frogs, lice, flies, boils and blains, hail with fire, locusts, darkness, and finally death of all first born – man and beast, unless there was the blood of a lamb on the post and lintel of the home. This dramatically makes the point that God can do whatsoever is needed to change people’s hearts and minds.
What happens to the land and the people when there is wickedness? The Lord can and will cause all manner of misery and upheaval. The following are just a few of the scriptures that make this point:
Ezekiel 33:28, 29 “For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.”
Jeremiah 44:22 “So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed, therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.”
Leviticus 26:20 “And your strength shall be spent in vain; for you land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.”
And so what is the lesson here? If we want peace, freedom, prosperity, and safety in our land, it would be good to:
1- Love one another (John 13:34)
2- Keep the 10 commandments (Exodus 20)
2 Chronicles 15:2 “ . . . The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”
Leviticus 25:6 “And I will give peace in the land. And he shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.”
THE GREAT PROMISE
2 Chronicles 7:13,14 “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, AND I WILL HEAL THEIR LAND.