The Earth is the Lord’s…

MON., NOV. 8, 1982, 5:38 AM
FARM, STUDY

This wonderful part of a great psalm has been part of a number of past teachings, and is a fundamental base for the message I give through you. It is, of course that the earth is My creation, and I share it only to the extent that it meets My purposes. (You notice that I do not use the expression “gives Me pleasure”… or words to that effect… Fulfilling My purposes is not always immediately joy producing.) Secondly, since it is My creation I do not desire that it be ultimately desecrated for some immediate, passing pleasures that some of you desire. So hear, o son, of My Sovereignty and of My love for the earth. Old themes, but good ones.

Some Christians make much of Satan’s influence… of the presence of evil in the earth. For some this is legitimate… the flavor of message I would have them bring. I shall not explain the nature of this purpose. Suffice it to say that each Christian does not have the same story to tell. The sun “rises” each morning, but the experience of sunrise is different for different persons. All would attest that the sun doth “rise”, but descriptions would vary greatly. My relationship with Satan and evil is obviously more complex than the apparent “sunrise”, but, aha, do you hear, now, something significant. Many would describe the “sunrise” as a reality, for they observe it as such… and they even read of it in Scripture, hear of it in hymns, and read of it in poetry.

The reality of it is more fundamental. The sun remains in place and the earth revolves around it to produce the seasons and on its own axis to produce the day and the night… and, consequently, the sunrise. This is not in the Scriptures, for it was not part of the knowledge of that time. Sunrise is real, but it, finally, is apparent… a part of practical life experience. Evil is real, but it, too, is, finally apparent… and a part of practical life experience. This is My story to you. Tell it as you are able and as you see opportunities.

Satan is a force that serves Me, though this is not his intent or his “style”. In the earth there must be real choices… and there must be real, and often devastating, consequences for actions. Growth in the spirit takes place in this way, and this is My fundamental reason for creating the unique environment that is the earth. You can see, clearly at times, that evil does triumph. This means, does it not, that I, then, have lost? Not truly. Just as the sun does not truly rise, so My purposes are not defeated by the triumph of evil. This IS My earth. I have not given it up, and it has not been taken from Me, in part or in entirety. Know this.