Highways desolate.

Bible prophecies warn of curses to come on the Israelite-descended nations because of their outright rejection of God and His laws. One of God’s punishments for disobedience will be “your highways shall be desolate” (Leviticus 26:22). Recent events in the United States and Canada reveal how this prophecy might be fulfilled.

Last week in Boston, during a manhunt for a bombing suspect, the city mandated that residents remain in their homes. Businesses were closed, children could not play out of doors, and only police cars and armored vehicles were allowed on streets—the roads and highways were desolate (The New Yorker, April 19, 2013).

Concurrently, a portion of the U.S.’s largest “highway”—the Mississippi River—also came to a grinding halt. “Barge shipping on the Illinois River and parts of the Mississippi River will remain impeded until at least early next week as the flood-swollen waterways slowly recede from record- or near-record-high crests” (Reuters, April 23, 2013; Reuters, April 22, 2013).  This followed a partial shut-down of river traffic in both August and December of last year, due to low water levels in the river system (Reuters, August 20, 2012; Reuters, December 26, 2012).

Also this week, many major U.S. airports experienced significant flight delays due to budgetary furloughs of air traffic controllers (The New York Times, April 23, 2013).

In Canada, a plot targeting an international railway train—another highway—was foiled this week (National Post, April 22, 2013).

These sobering events provide a glimpse of things to come if our nations fail to return to God.