How to Beat a Drought

 

A lady talking to me at the Mall recently said: “Isn’t this drought dreadful? I have prayed and prayed to God but He seems to ignore my prayers.” Well that is a shame because the farmers can’t plant their crops and the stock have very little to eat, and with winter at our door the outlook is devastating and not just for farmers, we all suffer in some way.

What’s the problem? Is God deaf? Or doesn’t He care? Now if we could sit in on a hypothetical “Boardroom meeting” where God  is talking to His angels, we might see the other side of this discussion as we hear God reiterating His previous direction made to Moses on this very subject where He said, among other things, that “If you carefully obey all the commandments I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul, then He will send the rains in their proper season-the early and the late rains- so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine and olive oil. He will give you lush pasture land for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat. But be careful, don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the lord…. If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests” Deuteronomy: (Chapter 11 and verse 14)

Now God made that statement through Moses in the Old Testament several thousand years ago and successive generations have ignored it to the extent that we now look on droughts as normal events which they were not meant to be (according to the above). God in His goodness doesn’t let us die out though, or drown in another worldwide flood, (as He did in Noah’s day), but keeps us aware that things could be

good by giving us good years amongst the bad ones, in the hope that we will wake up and follow the directions he gave. So there it is, as plain as the nose on your face: God is not deaf, it is just that we as a nation either can’t read, or aren’t interested in what God wants. Consequently, we should not complain, but if we as a nation want to prosper we need to comply with our God’s directions by not living lives and passing laws that are contrary to what He tells us to do.

As Individuals though, we should pray in faith believing, and God will supply all our individual needs, as He has promised in Philippians 4:19. But even here we need to be sure that our behaviours and the things we have become accustomed to are acceptable to God, because they may not be, and that would make it hard for God to bless us. My Dad used to quote a statement which said: “First you abhor, then you pity, then you endure, and then embrace.” I believe this is true, so we can easily find ourselves embracing and approving things that are questionable.  And of course the Media people, and others, try to control our thinking and exploit our emotions like love, hate, fear, greed and lust.  There is a good example of this where the “Soapies” (like “Home and Away”) that were just “low quality entertainment”, some years ago, have gradually become degrading, and are now unfit for God’s people’s entertainment.

“Goodness Tom, that is a strong statement” someone might say, “how did you arrive at that conclusion?” Well Christian thinking, as set out in the New Testament, (Philippians 4:8) says that we should think on whatsoever “things that are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.” So if what we are watching on T.V. a DVD or the Internet, or even a book, does not measure up to that standard, set out by God as a guide for us, then it needs to go. I know that sounds very “narrow minded”, but Jesus did say in Matthew 7: 13 & 14, that “narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it, and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go that way.”  Back in the Old Testament in 2 Chronicles Chapter 7 and Verse 14 God says “If my people, who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.” So there is a lot to consider here.

For starters we need to ask God’s forgiveness for our past sins and disobedience and then endeavour to earnestly comply with Jesus instruction that we “love God and love our neighbour as we love ourselves”. Of course it is hard to comply with God’s other wishes if we don’t know what they are, so we really need to do some bible study to find out, don’t we? And as individuals get our behaviour right, because that is important for our personal salvation. But our nation needs a lot of prayer if it is to get its act together, don’t you think?   Best wishes, Tom