Sabbath Rest For The Land

Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” The Passion Translation of the same verse say it all belongs to Him. He’s the one who separated the waters from the land and planted firm foundations for this place we call earth. The earth always feels His presence and cannot forget the perfection with which it was formed, but somehow man in his selfishness has forgotten.

In Genesis 1, God said He created man in His image. He gave them dominion over the earth, over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God called all these things good. We were made to have authority over all the earth but as HE would. We were made to follow Him and be in communion with Him and if this was done in accordance with His plans all would be in proper balance and harmony. But in order for that to work man must walk in understanding and love. The original intent was for us to rule as He would. The earth would not wear out. There would be abundance for all and extinction of His creation would not be a concept to be discussed. This divine order could only work if man followed His plans and was interacting with God in all facets of life. But man has chosen chaos and disorder. The perfect rules were rejected and a mind ruled by the removal of God in our plans became the order of the day. Greed has become the motivating force of man.

In Leviticus 25, we see God knew what was in the heart of man and set up rules for him to follow that would save the earth. He said six years man would sow your land and six years you’d gather the fruit from it. BUT in the seventh year there would be a Sabbath rest unto the Lord for the land. During that year you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. But what grows of its own accord during that seventh year can be eaten by all who live in the land, including those who don’t own the land, and foreigners, and your livestock, and wild animals. It is a Sabbath rest unto God but what the land volunteers of itself can be eaten. Those who worried about not having enough in the seventh year were assured by God that by following His laws, you’d receive a blessing in that the land in the sixth year which would bring forth enough produce for three years. Yet we did not heed the promise. We were given the ability to create and reproduce, but we use these gifts for greed not good. So things are now out of control and we are seeing a paradise being lost. We forget the eternal and look at the now.

So we see the deforestation of the earth. A balance He put in order which would cleanse the air of carbon dioxide and other pollutants has been negated. Trees that absorb rainfall and release water vapor into the air to lessen pollution and replenish aquifers to water crops, are no longer there. Soil held in place by trees is washed or blown away. Erosion becomes rampant and silt enters our sources of water. The dustbowl of the 1930s in America taught us nothing. Haiti has lost over 95% of its trees. The earth can replenish itself to a degree even with all the destruction we’ve brought but we will not stop. Even now we are seeing people put in charge of government departments that care nothing in regard to trying to right these catastrophic practices. That might mean losing money.

Greed has caused chemical companies to come to the rescue so crops can grow even though the earth has said no. So we produce something that is causing more harm to the earth and to us each day. Many pesticides and herbicides are being used to increase crops and thereby profits. And people ignorantly defend these methods while something as divinely special and simple as His creation to pollinate crops is dying. The bee. Scientists have found that the pollen bees bring back to their hive is contaminated by these chemicals making the bee unable to fight infection caused by it or to then resist parasites. Some wise beekeepers will not allow those who use these chemicals to rent their bees. But big agribusiness has clout and political connections. They hire their own people to refute actual facts and have made it so many can no longer produce without these chemicals. If you ask many who are in position in Congress to help fight this, they say they cannot say for sure that these so called dangers are real as they are not scientists. Yet they ignore the scientists. These people are bought and paid for. And rather than try to get the world working together to clean our air, land and water, they remain blind as to what is bound to happen and care nothing to the inheritance we leave to our children. They have made a deal with the devil and there is a price to pay for that. We are to make no covenant with evil. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” But this is willful disobedience. We see the results of the pillaging of our earth right before our eyes. In some areas even your nose will tell you what is wrong because of animals penned together in horrendous quantities so they cannot move and fouling land and water with excess waste that cannot be dealt with. And to remedy the problem of dying animals caused by this evil manifestation of greed, we feed them antibiotics, which we then ingest and which goes into our water supplies. We pay the price for this. Innocent or not. We are at the point that these practices have helped lead to the increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria. And the large pharmaceutical companies have no interest in finding new antibiotics as it is deemed cost inefficient.

The evil we see being perpetrated throughout the earth is but a reflection of mans’ inability to come into union and rest with Him who created this earth for us. It was made perfectly. But we have exercised our will to the point of spiritual blindness and to using the power He gave us to do good and allowing greed and power to be the motivating force destroying our planet. In Romans 8, we can hear the earth cry out for the return of that which is true and in right order. It was made by God and was in total oneness and agreement with Him. A veritable Eden. To know perfection and then be like this is unimaginable. Creatures and creation groan in expectation for His return. As Jesus said, all creation praises Him. Yet why does man not know what the earth and animals know? He says in Revelation 11 that He will judge those who destroyed the earth. What we see is out of order. Have no part in it. Be part of the solution whenever and wherever you can. Ignorance and apathy are never an excuse. Stand.

My prayer is that we ask Him as the psalmist did, to teach us good judgment and knowledge. Cause us to hear the way in which we should walk and help us acknowledge His loving kindness that is still here for us each day. Teach us to do your will in being good stewards of that which you have put in our hands. Revive us. Lead us. In your mercy, forgive us. Blessings.