Spiritual Dust Bowl

Life is not as bad as it could be.  I know it is tough but after reading a quote by Wallace Stegner in his memoir, Wolf Willow,  where he describes the Dust Bowl drought of 1917 in southern Saskatchewan life for us looks pretty good.  Here is the quote:

There was a whole folklore of water. People said a man had to make a dipperful go as far as it would. You boiled sweet corn, say. Instead of throwing the water out, you washed the dishes in it. Then you washed your hands in it a few times. Then you strained it through a cloth into the radiator of your car, and if your car should break down, you didn’t just leave the water to evaporate in its gullet, but drained it out to water the sweet peas.

But as I read this quote I was struck by how desperate times must have been and to what great lengths people had to go through to simply meet basic needs.

In my reading this morning in 1 Kings 18, Israel is faced with their own dust bowl–a drought God had placed on the land because of the wickedness of Ahab but mostly because the Israelites where worshipping between two gods.

21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

The hearts of the people wavered and God needed their undivided attention.  This recalls to my mind another verse in Scripture, Matthew 6.24,

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

I can relate to both of these verses.  I know I often waver between which god to serve–the One true living God or the god of pride, lust, money, personal preference, etc.  And yet EVERY time I find myself worshipping a god other than THE God, I always find myself in a Spiritual Dust Bowl.

Questions:

1.  Would you consider yourself in a Spiritual Dust Bowl/Desert now?

2.  If so, why?

3.  Where is your current focus?  On self or on God?