And I will restore to you the years that the locust
hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great
army which I sent among you.
Joel 2:25
The greatest drama in God's creativity AND the world and
everything in it, showing the magnificence of His designs, is the migration of
bird life-- the millions of neurons in the bird neurology are hardwired (a bird
about the size of your fist) to fly thousands of miles in a season. This writer
and world traveler will never forget the mountains around the Arctic
Ocean, almost black with bird life. The Terns had migrated from
the South Pole, where I had witnessed their stay there. The ornithologist/
scientist, studying their magnetic abilities-- their study of the stars has yet
to give explanation to their ability to travel such distances (their rest
stops, food supply). Nor can the scientists account for the Geese and other birds
as they fly in the V formation, knowing their regular stops in their migratory
flights. God wired them with work ethic survival, just as He did with so many
animals (bees, ants, etc).
There is a different neurology with locusts. Scripture has
much to say about locusts, long-suffering mankind restoring after the destruction of locusts. As
old as history, and it all started in the Garden of Eden, when man chose the
spirit of death instead of the spirit of life through disobedience, forced to
work/ sweat.
By the sweat of your
brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were
taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
Genesis 3:19
The aroma of sweat is the perfume of accomplishment. I can
still, to this day, imagine my sweating father-- hard at work, the working-ess man
I have ever known. But, because he worked-- the farm, his business (barber
shop), construction of buildings, raising livestock-- he made a good living for
his family and was able to return to God, the portion that was due to God.
It still thrills this old man to shake the hand of a working
man-- a man who knows the honor of labor, who knows the honor of the family, and
the honor of serving a holy God. And, not just men, but the female gender as
well-- whether a mother raising children and caring for a home, pulling the
looms in a cotton mill, teaching others' children or nursing others (sick
folks). So many women know the thrill of a paycheck from work as well as the
consolation of a job well done at home. My own mother, who worked on the farm
home, giving to the community, said her greatest compliment, when someone spoke
of her children, was, "You did a good job."
Just a few weeks ago, the world waited patiently as a new
future king of the British empire was born, Prince George. This writer well remembers
great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, being crowned in Westminster, following the death of her
father. I well remember her marriage to Price Phillip. Americans, still
intrigued by royalty, watched the marriage of her successor, Price Charles, the
birth of his successor, Price William, and now the birth of his successor, Prince George. This child
will never want or need for anything. Like royalty from the time of King Herod,
or other tyrants, such as Hitler or Nero, all had the choice of treating their
fellow man decently, or using their fellow man for their own comfort. This
writer has seen the castles of Europe, the palaces of Asia.
Buckingham palace has 775 rooms and 78 bathrooms for just one old man and one
old woman. I have seen the splendor of Windsor
and Edinburgh.
Prince George will be the future head of the Church of England, just as is his
great grandmother is now. Does she not think-- will he not think-- that the same
justice of God applies to them, as to any other human being born into the
world?
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the first
and great commandment. And the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40
As this world traveler traveled through India, by train,
through former British colonies in Africa by Land Rovers, or whatever, the
thought was always there, "The great wealth of the British Empire could
have been used to make the lives of poor human beings, who never had a decent
water supply,or place for body elimination--- children who never had a full
stomach. Such wealth could have made their lives better." The only consolation
in the world of "big I, little you," is God himself walking the earth as a
man-- Jesus seeing the disparity with his own eyes and yet saying, "The
poor you have with you always," (Matthew 26:11). Man was given free will
as a gift from God. Just as we were chosen to live-- even chosen for eternal
life-- we have the choice of being a producer or a user. What possible thrill/
enjoyment/ accomplishment, can anyone get out of living if you do not know the
joy of working and giving.
The boy, Prince
George, will have ponies, because his great
grandmother so loves horses. He will eat from gold plates and never know or
even observe poverty. Only the grace of God will present the righteousness of
God through Jesus Christ. We wish that for him and for all those in the world
who are physically able to work.
The sluggard will not
plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have
nothing.
Proverbs 20:4
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