Lord, Please Heal Our Land
Do you find your heart heavy when you hear of the oil pouring into our ocean, and see the birds covered with the oil and dead fish that have washed upon our shores? Do you feel that same grief when animals are abused or found hungry and diseased. …How about the leaves on a tree that are marred because of the acid rain or rivers so polluted that there is no fishing allowed? Why do we as believers sense such grief?
Jeremiah 12:4 says, “How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.” Verses 10&11 tell us that evil men have made the whole land desolate and the land mourns before God. Could it be that by the Spirit, we sense God’s heart grieving over the sinfulness of man and over His creation. Yes, judgment was made against man and creation because of the Fall (Adam’s sin) (Gen. 3:14, 17-19).
Romans 8:19 tells us that the creation waits in eager expectation for the manifestation of the sons of God. “Eager expectation” is found seven times in the New Testament, and each time refers to Christ’s return. The “manifestation of the sons of God” will occur when Christ returns for His people. The Amplified Bible says, “For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility; condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope that nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now” (v.20-22).
The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay when God’s program of salvation for people is completed and the children of God together experience their glorious freedom from sin, satan, and physical decay. God’s program of salvation for people is one of new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and the physical world also will be re-created (Rev. 21:5). The physical world will be re-created in two stages: (1) A renovation with the return of Jesus to the earth and the establishment of the messianic kingdom on earth (2 Pet. 3:13); and, (2) The creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). One day, no child of God or any of His creation will groan in pain. Amen!
Man and creation seem to be suffering more now because of the rampant sin in the church. This may shock you, but look at God’s people throughout the Old Testament. When they walked uprightly, their land prospered; but when they turned away from God, there was famine and war. Church, God says, “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 will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). God wants to heal our land, our waters, and His animals and fish. Please make sure that your life is right with Jesus and pray for the Church, the lost, and our land. Stopping an oil leak is not too hard for our God!