THE WHOLE EARTH GROANS
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to notice and be thankful for your many good gifts that surround and inhabit me, that are mine to enjoy. Help me to use them for your glory.
Read ISAIAH 34
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Judgment Against the Nations
34 Come near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!
2 The Lord is angry with all nations;
his wrath is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy[a] them,
he will give them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be thrown out,
their dead bodies will stink;
the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved
and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
the people I have totally destroyed.
6 The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood,
it is covered with fat—
the blood of lambs and goats,
fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And the wild oxen will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood,
and the dust will be soaked with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her dust into burning sulfur;
her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched night or day;
its smoke will rise forever.
From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[b] and screech owl[c] will possess it;
the great owl[d] and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom
the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb line of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
all her princes will vanish away.
13 Thorns will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
a home for owls.
14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures will also lie down
and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
she will hatch them, and care for her young
under the shadow of her wings;
there also the falcons will gather,
each with its mate.
16 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read:
None of these will be missing,
not one will lack her mate.
For it is his mouth that has given the order,
and his Spirit will gather them together.
17 He allots their portions;
his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to generation.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 5.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
This passage has many references to owls (vv. 11, 13, 15). Ask God to give you a glimpse of how he sees these beautiful birds.Edom’s animosity toward the people of God began with the conflict of Jacob and Esau, settling into a hardened pattern of hostility by Numbers 20:14–21. Gruesome as the retribution they faced would be, there was just cause. Why then was the soil (v. 7), water (v. 9), and air (v. 10) polluted and defiled? Why all the animal slaughter (vv. 6, 7a)?
First of all, there are clues here directing us to see Edom as a stand-in, a motif for something of a different scale (v. 5). This was judgment relating to nations, individuals, the environment, and the entire cosmos (vv. 1–4). In his holiness, God has no tolerance for sin. And it is human sin that is the greatest cause of suffering to the earth and its inhabitants. Gus Speth, former US adviser on climate, said: ‘I used to think that the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy. To deal with these, we need a cultural and spiritual transformation.’*
God has good plans for redemption and restoration for the whole of his creation (Romans 8:21, 22). As his Spirit works transformation in us, one of the results will be that we become a blessing to the earth.
Apply
Where are areas in your life where repentance is needed for the ways your selfishness, greed, and apathy have harmed creation?
Closing prayer
Loving Father, thank you for the beauty of your creation and for the ability to enjoy it. I lift up those whose limitations prevent them from experiencing what I can; help me to be sensitive to them and show me how to be an encouragement.
*https://tinyurl.com/mr4cu8rc
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