“He turned rivers into a desert, 
    flowing springs into thirsty ground, 
and fruitful land into a salt waste, 
    because of the wickedness of those who lived there. 
He turned the desert into pools of water 
    and the parched ground into flowing springs; 
there he brought the hungry to live, 
    and they founded a city where they could settle. 
They sowed fields and planted vineyards 
    that yielded a fruitful harvest; 
he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, 
    and he did not let their herds diminish.“

Psalm 107:33-38 

–

AUGUST 21, 2025

Have you ever been caught up in the mindset that God turns a blind eye to evil, that He doesn’t see or realize what’s going on? If you’ve ever felt like God isn’t doing a good enough job at maintaining order and preventing evil in the world, then you need to take your mind to the pages of scripture, especially the voices of the prophets and listen, watch, and see what God does.   

God always deals with evil. He deals with the evil in our own hearts, and with the overwhelming evil happening on a global scale. He deals with your jealously and greed alongside the horrors of sex trafficking. He deals with famine and genocide and war alongside your lies and hypocrisy. There is no evil that God is not dealing with or will not deal with. There is no one on earth with a clearer view of evil than our God.  

And no one in the world knows how to handle evil better than God. Our ideas, opinions, judgments and suggestions crumble next to God’s wisdom.  

Today, reflect on Psalm 107:33-38. These verses are a bit mysterious, so humbly ask for the grace to understand. In these verses we see God responding to people’s evil actions. Because of their evil, God turns rivers into desert, causes springs of water to dry up, and turns a fruitful place into a wasteland. Because of evil, we see God doing a reverse creation. God of life, God of abundance temporarily removes abundance because of evil.  

Is this punishment? Or are these natural consequences? Is all this part of spiritual nurturing?  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • God ever led you through a season of hunger and suffering? 
  • How do you think the Holy Spirit may use a form of hunger to deal with sin collectively within the body of Christ?  

Church Reading Plan: 1 Samuel 13; Romans 11