Developing Horizons Magazine (2).pdf Spring 2017 DHM A | Page 17

Blessings of God
creation. As a largely agrarian
society, we were dependent on the
land for our very existence and we
knew it. We felt the soil, knew how
it smelled and felt; we tilled it and
helped it to produce in its season.
We understood the need for rest
for ourselves and the land in ac-
cordance with the rhythms of God
infused into all living things. We
sensed the movements of the sea-
sons and, therefore, understood the
seasons of life itself. Water was life.
Water is life and we knew and trea-
sured it. “Then the angel showed me
the river of the water of life, as clear
as crystal, flowing from the throne
of God and of the Lamb” (Revela-
tion 22:1). We were surrounded by
creation, immersed in it, connected
to it. Yes, it was often difficult and
harsh. It was not idyllic. In our very
souls, we understood that creation
itself was groaning under its bond-
age to decay (Romans 8:21). We
sensed that all of creation would
one day be redeemed to its original
intended order (Acts 3:21).
But now we are less connected to
the land. We are essentially urban-
ized. We are surrounded by concrete
and glass. Our environment is artifi-
cially controlled. We have the ability
to mitigate the effects of weather.
We have little or no idea where our
food or water comes from. Simi-
larly, work used to involve mind
and body. Now, work is essentially
a cerebral exercise and a computer
screen. How could this not spill over
into the life of faith? Has not our
faith become much more something
we think about rather than some-
thing we live? Have we removed
from our faith the miraculous
working of God in the reality of life?
Has the concept of justification by
faith become so dominant that we
actually have an entire generation of
Christians who think that if they be-
lieve the right things they are ok? In
the Protestant Church, has not wor-
ship itself morphed from where the
central focus was an encounter with
the reality of the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ to a focus of listening
to a preacher and his or her ideas,
insights, and postulations?
Returning to the Land
Eden.’” Ezekiel 36:35
"They will
say, 'This
desolate land
has become
like the
garden of
In the early 20th century, young
idealistic Jews, mostly from East-
ern Europe, began to immigrate to
what would eventually become the
modern State of Israel. They be-
longed there after all. Though they
were not religious, they
believed that the land
– that spec ific geogra-
phy – was promised to
their ancestors centuries
ago. When they arrived,
they found a deso-
late land: fields that
had lain fallow for decades, rocks,
swamps, deserts and wastelands.
And so they began the arduous task
of transformation. They drained
the swamps, harnessed the water,
cleared the rocks, tilled and plant-
ed. Within years, the land that had
been so desolate became the world’s
largest producer of oranges. Soon,
the production of Israel became a
modern miracle. Unbeknownst to
them, those young non-religious
Jews did the work of God. When
the first Zionist plunged his spade
into the soil of the Promised Land,
he was doing something more holy
than one might find in any glorious
cathedral.
The point is that God’s work is
rooted in reality. Creation is not
some disembodied, spiritualized
realm. The land promised to the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob is not a mystical Zion or
spiritualized Jerusalem; it is a real
and clearly defined geography. The
epiphany of Jesus was not theoret-
ical, He was a real flesh-and-blood
person, with a real Jewish heritage
born in what is now the State of
Israel. We must take care that your
faith does not become a disembod-
ied, spiritualized endeavor – like all
things with God, it must be rooted
About the Author:
Dr. Kent Reynolds, pastor,
academician, and humanitarian
iscurrently serving the
American-Israeli Public Affairs
Committee by developing its
internal Christian Leadership.
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Spring 17