" H E A R, O E A R T H ! "

The Cry of Job

O earth, do not cover my blood;

may my cry never be laid to rest

(Job 16:18, NIV).

There are some cruelties, some deaths, some murders, which the earth and the seas now conceal.  There will come a day, however, when they shall give up all they have concealed (Revelation 20:13).  The sea, and death, and hades or the grave, which invariably means the earth (for graves are in the earth), shall give up the dead in them, and also the records with the dead.

There are some deaths, however, which the earth does not conceal.  The murder of Abel by Cain was one death the earth did not or could not conceal.  Cain the murderer tried to conceal the death, such that even when God asked him about his brother, he replied as if he knew nothing of the brother’s whereabout.  If he could seek to hide it from the all-knowing God, then he must have taken all the precautions to hide it from men.  Abel must have been buried in the earth, and his blood covered with earth.  The weapon with which he killed him must also have been concealed carefully.  Yet, in spite of all that, the earth would not side with Cain to conceal that blood.  God said, “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10).

Why would Job cry the sort of cry we have cited above?  The reason is to be understood against the background of his great afflictions which are common knowledge.  Everything seemed to have turned against Job: a wilderness wind bad blown down his eldest son’s house and killed him along with his other brothers and sisters; the heavens had sent forth “the fire of God,” so it was thought, and killed all his sheep and servants, except one; the Babylonians or Chaldians had raided his camels and killed all their attendants, except one.  His friends had turned against him.  His own skin also seemed to have turned against him, with a rash of boils; and even his wife became his enemy.  Yet he was sure, in spite of all the calamities he was facing, that he was innocent.  Was he, an innocent man, going to die in vain?  Would none plead his cause?  He had to turn to the earth and lament to it, “O earth, make sure my blood is not concealed.  Make sure that if I die, my judgment is not buried with me.  Be sure to call up my case.  My blood must not be concealed.”  And he did not die in vain.  God vindicated him at last.  This brings to mind a  related issue.  Some dying men (and our histories abound with instances) in the process of being innocently killed or ritually sacrificed, have passed curses on the land and on men; and such curses sealed by their innocent blood, have been recorded by the earth, and have been the source of some great distress upon such lands.  The earth may yet conceal their blood. These are issues which ought to be addressed in the deliverance of such  lands and such people.

Isaiah 26:21 throws more light on the matter of concealed bloods: “The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer” (NIV).  The Good News Bible seems to put it even more clearly: “The murders that were secretly committed on the earth will be revealed, and the ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.”

There be some deaths, some blood, which the earth has concealed.  We can call upon it to reveal such blood; we can command it not  to conceal such blood any longer, and the earth will hear us.

Sometime ago I and a few others got bothered about a road junction where motor accidents occurred nearly every day.  On an agreed day, I and two others merely walked across the busy expressway.  I crossed the road twice and dropped anointing oil as I did, speaking also as I let the oil drip.  Nobody noticed anything except one man who passed by and may have wondered at a man who was mumbling to himself, while he let oil drop from a bottle in his hand.  In less than five minutes the prayer was over.  The earth heard my voice and all whom I represented as I prayed.

Several months later, residents around the junction noticed with wonder that the accidents which were almost a daily occurrence at the road junction, had ceased.  The earth hears.

That brings to my mind the case of a government car that also heard the voice of prophecy.  A Christian brother and friend of mine had been assigned a brand new Peugeot 504 station wagon official car by the Federal Government establishment where he worked.  One day we needed to use the government car as a point of contact in prayer about the government.  We did.  And we also went in the car to pray over and prophesy to some specific locations in the city.  Thereafter, we prayed over the car, insuring it in God’s own ‘insurance company.’ I can’t remember all that was said then, but the car was dedicated to God.

About one month after that, thieves went at night to remove the car from where it was parked in front of the brother’s residence, but could not.  By the morning, the doors of the car were found open, and certain wires in the car had been disconnected.  A day or two before then, God had put it in the brother’s heart to put a security lock around the steering wheel, the brake and acceleration pedals.  That was the last huddle the thieves were still tackling before morning caught up with them.

About a year later, armed robbers snatched the car from his official driver.  The car was recovered by the police the same day or so, from another town several miles away.

Not long afterwards, the car was withdrawn from the brother by his office for a more general office use, because it was found the most reliable of all the cars in that establishment.

A few days ago I saw the brother, my friend.  He told me that the car I dedicated several years ago was still alive and strong.  It has outlived all the other cars that came with it.  In fact, the same year he and his colleagues were issued the cars, some of them got involved in very terrible accidents (one of them fatal) and misfortunes of several sorts.  By the second year, the majority of those cars were already off the road.  About three or more years ago, the last of those cars, about twelve of them, issued at the same time as his, to him and his official colleagues by the Federal Government, had packed up.  But the dedicated car is still there. It is about seven years now; the only surviving car of that ‘family’ of cars... quite unlike the usual case in our country with ‘government properties.’  The reason: that car heard our voice.  Cars also hear.

Now let us suppose that that car had been dedicated to Satan, by a priest of Satan, and had had to be sold out after ‘only’ two years, as a ‘fairly used’ car, and you bought it, without knowing what had ‘killed’ it in the hands of the government....