The Land Will Vomit You Out

If you defile the land, it will vomit you out.. Leviticus 18:28 

I know that we no longer live under Old Testament law, but this strikes me as a very relevant warning.  The preceding verses in this chapter have detailed various ways in which a land can be defiled.  They deal primarily with sexual sin of many types…all of which are freely practiced in our society today.  Some of them are even applauded today and viewed as “normal” expressions of sexuality, rather than perversions.  Child sacrifice is also mentioned in the midst of all of the sexual sins. 

I wonder what it means for a land to vomit out a people.  In the case of this passage, it meant that the idolatrous people living in Canaan were destroyed by and for the Israelites who came in to inhabit the land after their exodus from Egypt.  This passage was God’s warning that the same could happen to them if they took up the evil practices of the previous inhabitants.  Of course, they did, and the nation was eventually destroyed, and its people dispersed.  It was centuries before the nation of Israel was restored, and it exists now in constant peril from some of its neighbors.

But, I am wondering today whether we in the United States are at risk of being “vomited out.”  Or, perhaps, the whole world is in danger of being “vomited out.”  Whether global warming is man-made or a normal variation such as has happened during the world’s history is not something I wish to argue.  But, is it a natural consequence of the way in which humanity has defiled the earth with their rejection of God’s standards?

People talk about Mother Nature being angry.  We all know she is a myth.  God is not a myth, and he certainly must be angry as he sees mankind flaunt its disregard for the principles he knows are for our own and the earth’s good.

He, of course, knows we are broken.  He knows we are powerless to bring about our own salvation, so He sent his son to pay the price for our sin.  We each need to come to a personal understanding and acceptance of this immeasurable gift.  As we enter into this relationship with him, we begin to learn how he wants us to live.  We do not need a set of laws such as we find in Leviticus.  The Spirit of God convicts each of us.  We respond out of love and gratitude for the sacrifice he made on this day (Good Friday) centuries ago.