Jeremiah 5:21-25
“Why don’t you honor me? Why aren’t you in awe before me? Yes, me, who made the shorelines to contain the ocean waters. I drew a line in the sand that cannot be crossed. Waves roll in but cannot get through; breakers crash but that’s the end of them. But this people—what a people! Uncontrollable, untamable runaways. It never occurs to them to say, ‘How can we honor our GOD with our lives, The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn and maintains the rhythm of the seasons. Who sets aside time each year for harvest and keeps everything running smoothly for us?’ Of course you don’t! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this. Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.”
“Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set. But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me. They do not say from the heart, ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’ Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.”
God sustains and controls our natural world, though Satan has worked to distort this gift. God placed its resources at our disposal, its beauty to enjoy. As we have allowed our baser parts to abuse nature, nature has responded with its own unruliness. As we turned away from God towards greed and indulgence, we have instigated nature’s decay and now it is going haywire. Our sins keep its blessings at a distance and threaten to destroy it altogether.
Lord, thank you for the blessings of the natural world. Thank you for my many opportunities to enjoy and cherish it. You have placed within it great resilience. Given a chance it will heal. Show me how to do my part in reversing its defilement, stewarding it for your glory.