The Bible lists three things together as a set of events that would make men desperate for the healing of the land. God is the one speaking in second Chronicles 7:13. Coupled with the first set of judgements on the earth, is a listing of additional conditions that His people must fulfill before God will hear their prayer.

When God says, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;” what can we conclude? Is God involved in the current situation and is He challenging His people who are called by His name to humble themselves and seek Him?

Not long ago the blazing brush fires in Australia were the top of the news. Pictures of burning houses and towering flames in the forests filled the screen. Planes dropping fire retardant, fire fighters, fire engines, rotating red lights, and blue and red flashing lights on police cruisers were all part the drama. The scenes were designed to attract viewers.

They showed in the foreground the former residents dealing with their losses in various ways, poking helplessly through the rubble, or morning a lost dog. Inevitably pictures of broken dolls, a shoe that somehow survived the flames, or a family portrait with a charred frame were on display to capture a little of what was lost and draw in the sympathies of the viewer. A map of the continent was displayed on TV with the location of the fires indicated by flames vastly out of proportion with the land mass.

But, God sent rain, so we don’t hear about that any more. I expect that the three years of extremely dry weather, displayed as cracked earth with drooping plants was blamed on climate change, but ultimately God is the One in control of the weather and He sent the drought…. then He sent the rain.

Why won’t people recognize that God uses drought, locusts and pestilence to communicate with mankind as He pleases.

He created and sustains the world, and people refuse to believe that He even exists. He chose a people through whom He could reveal Himself and His law. He sent prophets to the Jews telling them of the coming of Jesus. His people persecuted and killed them. He sent His Son, God in the flesh, and they crucified Him.

In Mark 12:1-12, Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders the parable of the Owner who left His vineyard in the care of tenant farmers. They refused to return to Him any fruit from His vineyard, and abused or killed all who were sent to receive what was His. The owner’s beloved Son was not even respected when He was sent. They killed Him too, thinking they could have everything for themselves.

The religious leaders knew the parable was about them and their desire to kill Jesus, yet their rejection of Him opened the way for others who were not Jews to become His people.

God could be speaking to His people now, including Christians who are also called by His name. These world events have come to give us the opportunity to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways; then, God says, He will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sin, and will heal our land.

We have been hearing continuously of the COVID-19 pandemic, a modern name for pestilence. The drought and the fires in Australia were recently world news. What about the third event mentioned, a plague of locusts?

In Africa, at Rethy, the locusts were welcomed as a delicious source of food to supplement what was a rather starchy diet, consisting mainly of corn, beans, manioc root, and sweet potatoes depending to the season. Since we were at an elevation of nearly seven thousand feet, not far from the escarpment that dropped down to a lower plateau, other foods were available due to the exchange between the markets. Peanuts, rice, and several kinds of fruit grew near Ngenge and dried fish was also available at their market. Of course the fish came up from the lake, but the locusts came from the skies.

Their thin wings were nearly silent, their body was fairly soft, without the hard exoskeleton found on the desert locust, and their legs were slender with less pronounced thorns on their back legs. They were a light green or tan, a succulent, fatty, protein rich addition to the diet, about ten times of the size of the flying ants.

The ants appeared nearly every year, not long after the rains started, when the ground was damp enough for the newly paired adult termites to dig down and start a new colony. At dusk hundreds of them would come out of small holes in the ground to climb up a short stalk of grass, spread their four long flat wings, and flutter into the air. There could be many holes in the same area and the ascending ants made what looked like a thin column of smoke against the night sky. We caught as many as we could. The ants, too, were tasty and highly-nutritious, but the locusts were so much bigger and better.

When l was a child at Rethy Academy the house lights attracted the locusts to us because we ran our diesel generator until 9:00 pm at the dorm. We heard them hitting the dining room windows where we had our supervised study hall and would catch as many as we could before lights-out. By morning they were usually all gone.

Little village boys would show up the next day, with dozens of the plump locusts strung crisscrossed on long stalks of grass, offering them for sale. They were considered delicacies.

After the KODA hydroelectric plant was installed we added street lights and those brilliant beacons shown throughout the night attracting billions of the locusts when they swarmed in the highlands. So many were attracted to the lights above the tennis court one year that they, in turn, attracted the night guards from their rounds. They had gunnysacks to fill, scooping up the insects that fell to the ground under the lights before they could take off again. Though I heard that barrels full of the locusts were offered at the market place, it was then considered a blessing, not a plague or a curse from God.

What would it take to consider locusts an undesirable event sent from God to communicate with man, to get them to seek Him?

Have you even heard of the locusts devouring the crops in the land of Kenya? Following is an excerpt from what Reuters published on the internet:

“If we fail in the current (regional) control operations, because of lack of pesticides, then we could see 4 million more people struggle to feed their families,” Ferrand said.

Locust numbers exploded late last year, encouraged by unusual weather patterns amplified by climate change, and swarms disbursed eastwards from Yemen, with Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia the hardest hit countries.

The first invasion that terrorized farmers in a region where 20 million people struggle for food has given birth to a second wave of insects just as new-season crops are being planted.”

The article was dated in April, 2020.

I wonder why the author said, “The exploding numbers of locusts was encouraged by unusual weather patterns, amplified by climate change.”

Isn’t this an effort to explain what is happening using humanistic logic? Isn’t it possible that God commanded the locusts to devour the land? People who refuse to consider the existence of God are looking for causes that harmonize with their concept of how things work in the world. They trust in science, rather than God.

The uncountable trillions now descending on the Kenya highlands blacken the sky. They descend to the ground to devour the gardens, and with the COVIG-19 motivated travel restrictions the insecticides to combat the threat are unavailable. Did God send the locusts to devour the land?

The Bible chronicles a number of times where God used locusts, from the humbling of pharaoh in Egypt to his final judgements on the whole earth foretold in Revelation.

In the days of Elijah God used a three and half year drought to punish his people who were worshiping the Canaanite god, Baal. The 450 priests of Baal were humiliated during the contest on Mount Carmel when their “god of fire” could not send fire, while the God of the universe sent fire in response to Elijah’s prayer, a fire that consumed the drenched sacrifice, the stone alter and licked up the water in the ditch around it. Then, the people fell on their faces acknowledging and worshiping the true God.

Elijah prayed for rain. King Ahab fled before the storm when God sent rain and Elijah outran the chariot and horses. God had then used a drought in response to Elijah’s prayer.

King David, proud of his power, demanded a numbering of his warriors, even though his general, Joab, repeatedly resisted. When David heard that his army numbered one million three hundred thousand men his heart convicted him. He realized that he had sinned, in not trusting God, and asked forgiveness, admitting that he had acted very foolishly.

Of the three punishments offered to David, he chose to have God send three months of pestilence, because of God’s great mercy. Though God did relent, just before the plague reached Jerusalem, seventy thousand men perished. David humbly admitted his sin, restored the alter and prayed for the people and the Lord heard his plea for the land, and the plague stopped.

Science and doctors are doing their best to combat the current virus, but I haven’t yet heard that it is blamed on climate change. It is rather being blamed on the Chinese for not closing the markets where exotic meats were sold, like monkeys, bats, reptiles and even guinea pigs. It is almost a desperate effort to blame it on anyone but God.

People ignore the most reliable history Book ever written! It starts with the beginning of time and faithfully relates God’s dealings with mankind. The last pages tell of God passing judgement on the world He created and has sustained for 6,000 years. I like the assurance in the Bible that there is a way to heal the land. When God communicates to his people and decides to remind them of His Authority and stops the rain, sends locusts to devour the land, and sends pestilence among His people; He also offers the solution to the situation stating in Second Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Doesn’t this promise apply to the current situation in our land? We heard the vice president use the phrase, “heal our land”, and I am certain he is familiar with the verse I just read. There are many in this country who are God’s people, called by His name to whom this promise is addressed.

Where do we seek our security and safety? When we hear the phrase on TV, “we trust in science” and hear no reference to God it makes me wonder what has happened to our country which has “In God we trust” on every piece of currency in circulation.

We say “one country under God” every time we recite our pledge of allegiance, yet we have taken God out of our schools and no longer place Him as head of our families or accept the commandments He has given as absolutes. It is of God’s mercy that the current pestilence is really a rather mild disease when we think back to the high percentage of deaths from the “Bubonic Plague”.

A disease far more deadly than COVID 19 originated in the garden of Eden. 100% of those infected die, unless they humble themselves, repent and seek God with their whole heart. It is an inherited condition and no safety precautions or social distancing put in place by man will have any effect.

People are putting their confidence in Science thinking to annul the effect of this pestilence, yet they are unable to trust God, not even considering His existence or accepting the fact that He can send disasters to His world at any time. People are concerned that there be adequate testing so they can make wise decisions themselves, to preserve their own lives. There must first be a recognition of One greater than ourselves, one before Whom we can but fall on our face and recognize our helplessness in our sinful condition.

Are we ready to humbly admit that in our own strength we can do nothing; we are all as an unclean thing, and all our good deeds are as filthy rags; all our efforts are worthless, even with trillions of dollars, salvation cannot be purchased. He alone provides everlasting life through His Son, Jesus Christ, the One who was crucified, had victory over death, and lives offering life to all who believe in Him.