Milking the land...

I'm not sure what was on the Israelites' minds when God led them out of slavery toward the promised land, a land of milk and honey. I'm sure they had visions of a land that would be blessed and prosperous, full of peace and justice, abundant in crops and wealth, and that everyone would have more than sufficient to live on. Sounds more like a fairytale land if you ask me, yet i believe this very vision may have been God's exact plan.

Yet we people in our greed and selfish pride tend to screw things up. The Israelites didn't even make it to the promised land before they started whining, and in greedy contempt turned and began to neglect God's plan. What's interesting, it wasn't the regular folk who led this rebellion. It was the leaders who compromised. As the leaders do, so the people follow,.. justice turns to injustice, peace turns to rebellion, abundance turns to greed, and prosperity to poverty. Human nature (sin) turns God's blessing into a curse.

A couple of weeks ago i saw a man looking for food in a dumpster. In our land of 'prosperity' i wondered what injustice has brought him there? I felt shocked, yet not so suprised as i wondered how many more blows i would need to end up in this fellow's shoes? We all feel injustice at times, some certainly more than others. Where is our help? Where are our leaders? What are our brothers doing?

Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 states:

If you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and justice being miscarried thoughout the land, don't be suprised! For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice only get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his profit!

So if the king is already milking the land for his own profit, what can you expect from his subjects? Leaders who like to divide 'the pie' amongst themselves, leave little for the labourers. Laws are created to protect certain intrests groups, judges and officials are bribed to open and close doors, and the labourers are 'milked' to uphold a structure that 'blesses the chosen few'... at least until the labourer has nothing left to 'milk'...

Moving here 18 years ago, i hoped this land of opportunity would become blessed and prosperous, and be transformed into a more honest and compassionate society. Sadly, our 'prosperity' has fed much greed and injustice instead, and 'milking' has become a way of life. Of course, we are not the only land where kings milk it for their own profit and where the poor remain oppressed. Yet there is a much better way, that is to bless and care for the needy, and to be our brother's keeper. So how long will we continue to be so selfish and blind, milking and consuming our brothers for profit? Surely this is not the way to live in a land of milk and honey...

I too once dreamed of a better land, but this dream has succumb to what 'the writer' evokes: 'What else should i have expected?'