Because they regard not the works of the Lord

“Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.” Ps 28:4 -5

When I was younger, Psalms was a “metaphor”,  brilliant poetry by David,  and “works of the Lord” applied to being able to pay the car installment or to pay rent.

As my love and connection grew for nature when I lived in a rural town, close to South Africa’s most famous Kruger Park, I’ve come to look at the natural world with different eyes. I started to look with the eyes of a five year old. Full of wonder and amazement. I didn’t want any scientific “explanations”. I just wanted to enjoy it for what it was. (I moved back to the city a decade ago. One of my regrettable decisions.)

The general consensus in the Christian circles around me was, “We received dominion and therefor we can more or less do what we want to” or “If it wasn’t for mining, I won’t have any food on my table”.

I won’t argue with these arguments!  You can pretty much do anything you want to, but not everything is good for you. Humanity have the riches of Gods’ earth on display on the stock markets. Bells and whistles included.

God gave us a choice between life and death! Everything in nature works together to sustain life. It operates in a symbiotic relationship. One organism creates something another needs for its existence. Just look at the most common cycle between plants and humans. Look at the exchange of oxygen and carbon between us and trees.

The same principle is found throughout nature. The natural world is ALIVE!

I share with you a commentary on above from Barne’s Notes available on Biblehub

“Because they regard not the works of the Lord – What the Lord does in creation; in his providence; through His commands and laws; and by His Spirit. They do not find pleasure in His works; they do not give heed to the intimations of His will in His providential dealings; they do not listen to His commands; they do not yield to the influences of His Spirit. “Nor the operation of his hands.” What He is now doing. The sense is essentially the same as in the former member of the sentence. He shall destroy them – He will pull them down, instead of building them up. They expose themselves to His displeasure, and He will bring deserved punishment upon them.

And not build them up – He will not favor them; He will not give them prosperity. Health, happiness, salvation are to be found only in conformity with the laws which God has ordained. Neither can be found in violating those laws, or in any other method than that which He has ordained. Sooner or later the violation of law, in regard to these things, and in regard to everything, must lead to calamity and ruin.”

A! but what about the rocks and minerals beneath the surface. I truly believe they are still part of the symbiotic relationship to sustain life above and on the surface of the earth. Just by removing it, we create all sorts of problems due to the pollution and imbalances of water resources, landfills, etc.  What if we find out a mineral we so eagerly mine, is what is necessary to protect us against the heat of the inner core of earth.

Mining and digging holes ain’t a good idea. Enough holes may weaken the crust and just maybe…. maybe the tectonic plates move and we have an earthquake …. one too many stuff happens at once …. and everything collapse … the earth implode….. and a lot of people are going to fall down all the holes …. the proverbial “digging your grave” only to realize “hell” is real.

(Last paragraph tongue in the cheek, but I still think we know too little about the “stuff” going on below and the role it’s playing in the bigger scheme of things to extract willy nilly everything we want too).

Sometimes I think of it in the light when Jesus cleansed the temple.

“And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”  Mat 21:13 . Did He say that because the people were greedy and made an unfair profit?

I’m not suggesting the stock markets are equivalent to the temple. We have to understand that He created everything in this creation for His pleasure. (Rev 4:11) and everything He created belongs to Him. Ps 24:1-2 and He created everything for a purpose.

The industrial revolution took off approximately in the 1870’s.  Where are we today in terms of  our custodian role to look, take care and marvel at His creation? All I can see is that the industrial revolution had put more people into a “psychological” jail, a techno slavery of mega proportions.

A computer, Nintendo, mobile phone, tablets and all the gadgets aren’t gonna gift you LIFE.  What is the real price we and our kids are going to pay? The price will be when some of us are going to the promised eternal life… whilst others will be refused to enter the eternal Holy Land because of their pride and hardness of heart. A blatant disrespect for the privilege to look after His belongings.