Drought! And a Call to Prayer . . .

There are now at least 24 states which according to the federal government are disaster areas because of a severe drought.  As we hear the usual drivel of how this is pointing to the so-called fact of global warming – there is an answer that we seldom turn to in the midst of times like this.  Over the past several years we’ve watched officials from Alabama and Texas turn to prayer for rain – but even then no one was willing to say what needs to be said about a drought coming to a nation.  It is time that this elephant in the Christian living room be addressed – and we begin seriously considering that not only drought – but very soon even famine are likely headed our way in the United States of America.  But before I get ahead of myself, let me give you a little biblical background.  First let us read a passage in Jeremiah about such things. 

That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in regard to the drought: "Judah mourns And her gates languish; They sit on the ground in mourning, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended. "Their nobles have sent their servants for water; they have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their vessels empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads. "Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land; The farmers have been put to shame  . . .

These opening verses in Jeremiah 14 speak of a drought.  This was a devastating drought that hit the land of Judah – and eventually ruined their agriculture.  If you want to know what caused this drought – you only need to read further in the passage. 

"Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for Your name's sake!  Truly our apostasies have been many, we have sinned against You. "O Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?  "Why are You like a man dismayed, Like a mighty man who cannot save?  Yet You are in our midst, O LORD, and we are called by Your name; Do not forsake us!" Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check.  Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account."   Jeremiah 14:1-10

The problem was the sin of Judah and Jerusalem.  Note that their iniquities and apostasies were testifying against them.  Also see that later we read that they “loved to wander – and did not keep their feet in check from wandering from God’s way.  Since 1973 we have killed over 40 million babies, whose blood is spattered across this nation’s land.  Currently, we are embracing sexual immorality through pornography, open fornication without apology, entertainment that regularly derides biblical morality, and trashing marriage as an institution of God.  We are embracing easy divorce, open marriages, and now homosexual perversion as well as heterosexual.  We recently watched a business openly trashed because its founder dared to stand for biblical morality in marriage and sexuality.  And a major city boasted that it proudly stood for what God calls an abomination – even stating that it would not longer allow this business to expand into its region.  And we wonder why there is drought in our country?  Honestly – there should be wholesale famine raging in our land.  It is the height of mercy that God has not withheld rain from all 50 states and devastated every crop we seek to grow. 

Next I want you to read this passage from Haggai on drought.

Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?" Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways! "You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes." Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways! "Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says the LORD. "You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?" declares the LORD of hosts, "Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. "Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. "I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands."   Haggai 1:3-11

Haggai made it clear that Israel had brought a drought upon themselves.  God Himself called for the drought on every form of food production.  The reason is very interesting.  It was because they were all living in bigger and bigger houses – making them more and more ornate – all the while God’s house was desolate.  This refers to the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem at the time – but the parallel is frightening for us today.

We are not called to build a physical temple in a city.  But the temple today in the New Testament is the believer himself or herself!  We are a temple of the Holy Spirit of God according to New Testament doctrine.  The church corporately is being built together into a “dwelling of God in the Spirit.”  We’ve given ourselves to bigger and better when it comes to our own homes – but have left our spirit’s desolate and without the proper care.  The way that God deals with this is to call for a drought according to Haggai.  Could it be that the desolate state of the church in the United States of America is the cause for this drought – as well as the immorality and ungodliness that runs rampant in our land?  Could it be that it is not only the murder of the innocents and their blood spilt on our ground that cries for drought – but also the morose state of affairs in God’s church – our lack of revival? 

The ground in over half of the farmland of our nation is baking under intense heat and from what I see on my “Weather Channel” app on my phone – it doesn’t look like any end is in sight – at least for the next 10 days.  By then the crops in our area will most likely be baked to death.  So – here is my question for us.

2 Chronicles 7:14 in its full context deals exactly with our current state of affairs.  But the question for all of us is honestly very simple.  Are we ready to get on our knees yet for some very serious importunate prayer?  If not – we can wait until the beginnings of the famine which I believe is about to overtake us if we do.  It is time to get very serious about praying until the Lord moves in revival in His church as well as restoration in our nation.  Neither President Obama nor Governor Romney can do ANYTHING about what is happening now.  It is the hand of God – and it is the payment for years of angering God with our sin and our indifference to the innocent blood and rampant immorality that pollute our land daily. 

Let us pray . . .