Opening Prayer: Father God, we thank you for this day and praise your holy name. Lord, we know that we are given dominion over the earth, including the land, and we thank you for entrusting it to our care. We know that too often, we forget or ignore our responsibilities and do not live up to the trust you place in us as the caretakers of your creation. Forgive us for falling short of your expectations. We understand that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea brought the same warning, but Lord, we ask you to give us a fresh anointing infused with the heart and mind to do better. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen!
In this generation, the tension between those who consider it their job to care for the environment and politicians is exceptionally high. However, our current environmental crisis is not simply an ideological, political, or social issue. Suppose we understand God created man and gave him dominion over the land. In that case, we must realize that when the environment is out of order, it indicates that we are spiritually out of order. It is like the engine light on your car, warning you that something is wrong. The fires, floods, earthquakes, and diseases are an indication that the world is suffering a disconnect from God. All these things, including earthquakes, are not necessarily natural disasters and can result from human thinking and action errors.
For us, I think the answer to our disconnect with the Lord can be found in Hosea. The Lord brought a charge against the Israelites concerning the land, and he could bring this same charge against us. Hosea brings this charge: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away" (Hosea 4:1-3).
The God we serve is the same God who brought word through Hosea that the land of Israel was suffering because there was no faithfulness, no love, and no acknowledgment of God in the land. Instead, there was violence, much like what we see on the evening news. Could it be that we could address our current tensions over the environment and the land better from a spiritual point of view? It could be that our nation does not need more regulations and more money but a faithful and loving return to the Lord's Way. There is enough blame to go around but let us not be too quick to point fingers.
Hosea's charge was also a charge against the prophets and priests of Israel, saying, "Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you" (Hosea 4:4, NLT). In other words, nobody was innocent, and the people and the priests shared the blame. Hosea charged that the people were unfaithful, and the prophets who were supposed to represent God's position before the people were faltering with them. They were not rebuking and correcting the people; Hosea called them all out – they were all named in God's charge against Israel.
Some of us must realize that the beliefs of a substantial number of churchgoers are not aligned with the faith of the first church led by Jesus and the apostles or with New Testament records: For example, what would you call a person who believes in astrology, reincarnation, and the possibility of communicating with the dead? If your first thought is 'New Ager,' you missed a larger and more important group and you probably belong to it. According to a Gallup survey, these are just some of the beliefs people call themselves Christians hold.
Gallup's survey reveals a shocking fact: many people who call themselves Christians do not know what Christianity is. They have adopted what University of California scholar Wade Clark Roof calls a 'salad bar' approach to their faith: pick the spiritual beliefs you like, add a dash of God, and consider yourself a Christian.
God said through Hosea, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6, NJKV). From a certain point of view, there is evidence that many people reject God's knowledge. The beliefs of many Christians are at odds with the teaching of their churches. There is also no visible difference in the behavior of the churched and the unchurched. This comparison suggests that whatever happens inside the church on Sunday has minimal effect on how church folk behave Monday through Saturday.
Sometimes behavior by those who profess Christ is worse than those who do not. For example, despite increased concern about national morality, surveys show that Christians have a higher divorce rate than non-Christians, and even atheists are less likely to divorce than Christians.
Despite its Christian heritage, surveys show that the United States leads the industrialized world in the percentage of single-parent families, abortion rate, sexually transmitted diseases, use of illegal drugs by students, and the size of the prison population. Our rate of child poverty (20%) is likewise abysmal.
God's message through Hosea noted: "The same judgment will happen to both people and priests. I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds" (Hosea 4:9, CEV). Today, our nation is cultivating and reaping a field of sin from God's absence, primarily because the living generations are ignoring God or perverting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Think about this. How much of a positive impact is the church having on individuals and society? At stake is the misguided assumption that we can continue to do what we have always done. It is even more misguided when churches are unaware that they are continuing to operate under this assumption. We assume that if we impact one life here and another there, we are doing okay because other churches are doing likewise. The presumption may or may not be valid. Too many churches are refusing to change.
Hosea's message gives a clear starting point for us to restore faithfulness to God in our land. Never cease to be a learner. There is more to God than your mind can hold, so you can never overlearn. Read, study, listen, and do whatever it takes to increase your knowledge.
Understand, though, that knowledge may come in through the head, but it must reach the heart to be effective. We must read, receive, and write the knowledge of God upon our hearts and minds. We must do the work of an evangelist and obey God even when it seems most challenging. And when we have done what we are supposed to, God will hear from heaven and heal our land.
These are not my words; the Word of 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 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV). If we do not understand the connection between man and the land through this verse, we will die from a lack of knowledge.
Closing Prayer: May our hearts and minds be attentive to the Word of God and open to change. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen!
