Reaping What We Sow
Later tonight I will begin teaching a study on the Book of Hosea at the church I serve. As I have prepared for this study and read through this Old Testament book again I am convinced that Hosea, an 8th century B.C. prophet, still has a word for us today. This is true in a number of areas, one of which is the correlation of human sin and environment degradation.
In Hosea 4:1-3 the prophet says, “Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel; for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea are perishing.”
The biblical prophets note repeatedly how our failure to obey God’s laws causes harm to the Creation. Even if this wasn’t noted in the Scriptures I think we would still recognize this. So often the land, sea and air suffer due to our sin.
When I read the scripture passage above I couldn’t help but think of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We now know that shortcuts were taken for the sake of economic gain that had they not been taken this disaster would likely never have occurred. Because of greed, one of the seven deadly sins, “the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea are perishing.”
We cannot treat the earth any way we please and not expect there to be severe consequences. The Bible clearly teaches that “we reap what we sow.” Hosea himself said, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” (8:7)
I believe that when we look at Creation we must recognize that our actions do indeed have consequences. If we fail to be the good stewards of the earth that God has called us to be there will be a price to pay. In fact, we are already paying that price in many areas. If, however, we can be good stewards of the earth the consequences will be positive. I encourage you to join me in trying to sow a better tomorrow.
–Chuck
(The image above was recently taken in Olympic National Park.)