The Hunger of the Wilderness

It's hungry, and it never stops.

I couldn't think of a better title for this post, so I stole it from AW Tozer. I suggest reading his work. It is extremely good.

Man was meant to be with God. God created humans for that purpose. They were to be in harmony with Him, walk with Him, and be His. God created the earth perfect so that we would not have to struggle for food and survival. He created a paradise where we could literally walk with Him and be in His presence, never suffering fear, death, or pain.

Then we went and messed it all up.

Now, since nature was struck with a curse, we have weeds, and thorns, and pain, and death, and everything else that was hit by the blast of sin when it entered into the world. In order to keep our order and make a place for ourselves, we have to fight nature at every turn, lest we lose everything we worked so hard to build. Unpainted metal rusts, unkempt streets crack and break, and buildings need repair and refinishing so they don't crumble.

All this and more is a result of sin entering the world.

What's worse is that the human personality (body, mind, spirit, soul), are no different. It is natural that without taking care of ourselves that we also whither and crumble and die. It is true for our physical body as well as our spiritual self. Let's look at it this way.

1. Physical body: will whither & die no matter what, but with good upkeep will last a lot longer and better.

2. Mind: will whither and die no matter what, but with good upkeep can last longer and better even than the body in most cases.

3. Spirit & Soul: is immortal, but is killed by sin. Can be raised back through the blood of Christ, but will whither and die again if it is has no upkeep.

I believe the first two are things that most people know. We can see and feel when we have not been taking care of our physical bodies and minds. It is the third one however, that I feel needs more explanation.

The reason is this: what we see in the tenacity of nature taking over that which is not protected mirrors what happens in our spiritual lives if left unprotected. If we ignore the things God calls us to do and go our own way, before long weeds will pop up and kill off the beauty God has planted inside of us. The roads that lead to our hearts will crack and break and crumble, and we will find it harder for truth to reach us. The temple that has been built in our hearts to worship God will crumble and fall, leaving us with none of what we started with.

After that happens, it becomes harder to start and come back to the One who saved us in the first place.

It is always harder to fix a yard than maintain it, to keep up than refinish, and to restore than to build again. I encourage you (and myself as well) to take a look at your life, and see where things need to change in order to be fixed. We ignore the spiritual life at our own peril. We cannot afford to let it waste away and crumble or else we will find ourselves with precious little to give to God or anyone else.

Let us be people that can richly give to a world that is in so desperate need of saving.

Let us fight back again sin and nature.

Let us start now.