The Rebellious Dwell in a Parched Land

When I ran into this phrase at the end of verse 6 in Psalm 68, it struck a chord with me. America has become a rebellious land. God has been so gracious to us over the years; He has blessed this nation in so many ways. But 40 years or so ago, we began, as a nation, to turn away from God.

We began to clamor for our rights to do whatever we desire. We began to relegate God to Sunday mornings in church only and to determine He had no place in business or government or our Monday - Saturday lives. As a result we have legal abortions, legal gambling in most states, overcrowded prisons, high violent crime rates, pornography everywhere, marriage redefined as a union between two people in a committed relationship - no matter their gender. We also have unprecedented greed that leads to financial collapse on a personal and national level because we spend money we don't have to buy things we don't need or we steal money from people who trust us. (Think Madoff, etc.)

And then think about all the natural disasters happening around America this year. Tornadoes in Massachusetts where they thought a tornado was impossible; they were only to happen is the south and Midwest - and boy have they happened, hundreds of them with hundreds of fatalities! Floods all along the Mississippi and Missouri River basins. Winter snowstorms that have some parts of the Rockies under 800 inches of snow. It's gotta melt and the water's gotta go somewhere. A huge wildfire going in Arizona. Earthquakes in California. Dead birds by the hundreds and dead fish by the thousands all across the country. Here in South Carolina we are two weeks into heat that is running 10-15 degrees above normal and the beginnings of drought conditions. And when you add in all the disasters around the world, it is astonishing to think about.

We are dwelling in a parched land. Maybe not literally parched because some have way too much water. But we are in a land that is parched in spirit. Parched from the lack of Living Water. We push God away and push God away and then scream at Him for abandoning us, for allowing death and disaster to come upon us.

We need to pray for revival - revival for ourselves and for our land. We need to be about the business of God, sharing the Living Water, the life giving water that is Jesus Christ, to friends, neighbors, business associates parched by sin. People who are hopeless and dying without Jesus.