Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. --- James 5:17, 18
So we got hit with 2 major snow storms within a few days of each other, as did much of the eastern U.S. Our amounts were not as much as some, but more than others. Grand total for us in the Laurel Highlands of south central PA was about 30 inches give or take, depending on where the wind whipped it around a bit.
In all this, I had to resurrect my snow blower which had not been used in over two years. My faithful 4-wheeler, Suzi, with her snow blade just wasn’t up to pushing that amount of snow. Fortunately, Mr. Simply (snow blower built by Simplicity), fired right up and was ready to go to work. He cut through the stuff like the proverbial hot knife through butter!
But I did something else while Mr. Simply was moving snow. I did some talking to my Lord. I often do this while I am engaged in certain tasks and even while driving down the highway -- ah, I do keep my eyes open in that situation. And so, as always I began with some praise and thanksgiving. God had given me another day and sufficient strength to get out of bed and to move about. And there was thanksgiving for His mercies to me and members of my family. We have all been blessed with a good measure of health. And I am thankful to live in a nation where I am free to worship and to join with others in giving public expression to our faith.
But then as my attention turned to the nation in which I am a citizen I did some confessing. The first part of the confession was that we deserve the wrath of God to be poured out upon us for the many abominations and sins of which we are guilty. There is nothing I can point to and say to God, “For this reason or that – or look at this – for these we do not deserve to be judged!” There is simply nothing that we can appeal to and say to God, “We are basically pretty decent people and deserve blessings rather than judgment!”
The confession continues with the admission that we are guilty of the abomination of millions of unborn children destroyed for whom God had a purpose in life – for this alone we stand deserving of the outpouring of His fury. Our national leadership is not the least bit remorseful and our president gives wholehearted approval to this ongoing slaughter!
But that is only the beginning – our widespread idolatry with money being one of our prominent deities! There is our pandemic practices of sexual immorality in many forms. And we have trashed the day of worship with less than half our population finding their way to a place of worship on what some consider to be the “Lord’s Day.”
And so we talk – the Lord and I about such things. And I, as I admit that we deserve His judgment right now, ask for mercy and that He might arise and increase His chastising actions upon the nation and its leadership (both state and church) – that if possible, the nation might be brought to repentance – not just in pretense, but for real – seeking God in sorrow and regret – confessing and asking for forgiveness and national healing
And a part of the conversation involved the weather – yes, even these snow storms that brought havoc to much of the eastern United States.
“Will people realize that you are the God of storms also? Will you work in such a way that all this massive amount of snow will suddenly melt in the future and create even more problems? Speak clearly through these events, Lord, that even the most hard hearted person will pause and give thought to his or her relationship with You.....Nevertheless, Lord, not my will, but yours be done – in my life, my family, my many friends – throughout our beloved nation and to the ends of the earth. Even so, come Lord Jesus!”
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God......... But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.....--- Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, 15, 16
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