Soccer in the town of Alton, Illinois, as in many communities across the U.S., is a beloved activity. But for now that activity has been altered. A few days ago a sinkhole suddenly formed, and a massive area in the middle of one of the soccer fields dropped out of sight. A nearby camera captured the moment: a tall light pole suddenly dropped vertically, and a cloud of dust went up in the air.
It didn’t take long to identify the reason for the sinkhole’s appearance. A limestone mining operation is located 150 feet underneath the area. Though mining engineers are constantly at work, the foundation of the soccer field was no longer there. It may be a while before the fields are again open for use by Alton’s residents.
The story reminds us of an incident in Numbers 16. Korah was one of the leaders of the tribe of Levi, and he and others spearheaded an effort to replace Moses. Moses, of course, was the Lord’s chosen leader, so they were not just opposing the man. Moses led the people to the tent of Korah and his family and called for the Lord to do “a new thing” to show who was His choice to lead the people.
Numbers 16:31-33 tells the dramatic account: “… the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they went and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.”
The large hole in Alton, Illinois is still there. The sinkhole in Numbers 16 mended itself immediately, and I suspect one could not tell a hole had been there. That’s “a new thing”. God had spoken!
The real problem on that occasion was the undermining taking place, not in the form of digging soil and rock, but by spreading discontent and bitter words. Korah and his associates were causing the people to doubt the abilities of Moses and his right to lead them.
Psalm 11:3 should be considered as we meditate on this idea: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” In verse 1 of that psalm foes challenged David to “flee as a bird to your mountain”; they didn’t regard God as capable of helping David, so run home, little David! But if the foundation of trust in God’s power to deliver His people is destroyed, what will those people do?
The world works hard to undermine the faith of Christians. They scoff at the idea of a Creator while trying to seriously propose chance evolution as the reason our universe exists. They tell us that we’re following an outdated set of ideas, and we need to catch up with the rest of the world.
Our task is to keep our faith strong. 1 John 5:4 makes this clear: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” Pay less attention to the world, and more – much more! – attention to God.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright, 2024, Timothy D. Hall
