Drought

It’s been a long, hot summer throughout the world. The Euphrates and Rhine rivers, reservoirs and dugouts are drying up. The global drought is from California to India; from the Sudan to Brazil and affecting us all.

The parched earth is crying out to the blue expanse asking for a glimmer of billowing clouds to bring the rain; begging for moisture to sustain the dry nooks, crannies and clefts in the rocks; the parched grasses of the fields; bring a refreshing annointing of moisture to restore the land.

It’s not unusual to have dry spells in desert-like climates, but there were extreme conditions for even Elijah in a time where there was neither dew nor rain for three years. He needed God and thankfully found fresh water and a widow that God provided and sustained him with.

It’s been amost three long years of global drought socially, emotionally and financially for many because of the pandemic. Our society though has been in a spiritual drought for much longer than that. The idols and Baal woship have dried our souls longing for the living water. Jesus is the only answer.

God continually asks us to come to him - with our burdens, our sorrows, our prayers. The scarcity of having Jesus in our lives is causing us to shrivel up spiritually. Why not run ahead into the rain and be washed clean, restored with hope and sustained in life?

The seventh time he returned and said, “I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the sea.”

Elijah ordered his servant, “Go to King Ahab and tell him to get in his chariot and go back home before the rain stops him.”

In a little while the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind began to blow, and a heavy rain began to fall. Ahab got in his chariot and started back to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah; he fastened his clothes tight around his waist and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. 1 Kings 18: 44-46

Let peace, like a river overflow its banks into our souls and let the rain come. Drink from the fountain of living water and be restored.

Eunoia

Our battles are fought in the realms of our will before God. The daily struggle of our lives means that we have to be willing to fight as believers. Tenacity, resilience, courage and focus are our weapons. The lies of the enemy are arrows that bombard us with thoughts to fulfill our own desires, our wills and our plans.

But when the world is bleak and dark and we are sometimes falling apart, we hold on to the promises of God and stand firm in our faith. People don’t agree with us. We are misunderstood. Take up the sword of the Word and shield of faith to do battle with the enemy. Fill your mind with beautiful thinking and pure thoughts of love, truth and joy. Soar like the eagle.

There is an old indigenous legend that is about a warrior who found an eagle’s egg and put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The eagle grew up thinking he was a chicken. He scratched for seeds and insects to eat; clucked and cackled and only flew a few feet off the ground like his “siblings”.

Years went by and the changeling grew old, but one day he saw a magnificent bird flying in the sky. It hung on the powerful wind with graceful majesty and soared on its strong, golden wings.

When the changeling asked “What is that beautiful bird?” he was told, “that’s an eagle, the king of birds, but you could never be like him; you are a prairie chicken.” Sad to say, the changeling died thinking it was just that.

…but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

So, don’t settle for a chicken when you can be magnificant and soar like the eagles.

quagmire

I’ve been there and I bet you have too. It’s that awkward, complex, or hazardous situation you find yourself in and it looks like there is no way out.

Plans that you had planned; went haywire. That relationship didn’t work out quite the way you dreamed it would. And that circumstance seems like the possible is impossible; looking like there isn’t even an exit sign in sight. What does one do?

David wrote about this exact thing in Psalm 52. David was not ruling; he was running for his life from King Saul. Doeg, a member of Saul’s army, “ratted out” David. David had just been in the city of Nob consuling with Ahimelech, the lead priest. Saul was enraged and had his men kill 84 priests because David had escaped his clutch once again. (1 Samuel 21-22 is worth the read.) David shared his thoughts by giving three solutions to his quagmire.

First of all, he needed to trust that God would see him through his situation. Then he thanked God and praised Him. Lastly, he said he would wait for God to work things out for His glory. And what about that green olive tree? Believe it or not, it can produce fruit for hundreds of years, it’s hard to uproot and grows 20-40 feet tall!

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

I will praise You forever,

Because You have done it;

And in the presence of Your saints

I will wait on Your name, for it is good Psalm 52:8-9

And so, we don’t need to stay in the quagmire. We can trust in the Lord, give thanks to the Lord and wait on the Lord. Things will work out because God is holding the exit plan in His hands. Stay rooted in His Word and keep the faith, for it is good.

build

Sometimes in the darkness I am twisted about finding myself up to my aching hips in sinking sand and sometimes a murky pit of despair. I have no desire to be drawn into the recesses of darkness of the damp basement, beckoning me, haunting my thoughts like a ghost wandering an old house searching for what was lost.

And so I grasp the tools I have - faith, hope and love - and I reach for the light just out of my grasp, but attainable if I keep building, slogging forward, one step, one day at a time like a caterpillar inching its way along a green leaf.

I wrestle with my thoughts, struggle under some of the burdens that I place on my shoulders and then I recall the Master builder, who has the blueprint of my life. His messages, scripture, promises I remember along with fragments of lines from memorized song lyrics and beautiful memories woven into the fabric of my mind. I know I will not stay in the dark and the broken. The sucking weight of negativity that wants to pull the walls down around me will collapse.

I consider what kind of society we are building. Is it the solid rock or faith principles that stand when the storms come or is it built on sand as we see it crumbling all around us? Are we building each other up by encouragement, love, words of truth and hope instead of despair, devastation and destruction?

Philemon 1:7 tells us Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.

Let’s encourage one another in love and build what is eternal.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

serendipity

I just finished reading Richard Power’s novel The Overstory a powerful book about how we are all so intricately connected through nature; trees in particular. Leaves flutter but the solid trunks are firmly planted. Some of the branches are broken; some sprouting new life, healthy and vibrant as they sway in the shifting winds. That’s what we are like.

When we are standing firm in our faith and rooted to the KIng, we dig deep down into the dust. That’s where we came from. We are like leaves changing with the autumn colors in the seasons of our lives as God works through us. Our scars, like carvings and lines in the bark are the outer edges exposed. Each is a unique pattern but we stand together. Knots on the outside, but inside a solid core; the rings of history as we connect with others around us - part of the forest. Part of the family of God.

From the seeds, to the roots, the growth and to the crown; there are so many parallels to the trees and stories interwoven in our histories.

The story of the underdog, the over achiever; the sob story, the success story but one story that never gets old or changes is the story of salvation - the soul story. The one about me as a sinner, someone who doesn’t get it all right; who has much to learn but I am loved by a God who chose me. And not because I deserve it, but because he loves me so much that he came into the world as a man to live and die on a cross so that I don’t have to suffer forever if I choose Him as my Savior. I confess that He alone controls my life because I have been born physically and now spiritually. It’s as simple as ABC.

Accept my humanness - I am a sinner. Believe that Jesus died - so that I can live, then Confess that He is Lord of my life. Each of us has his or her story, but sometimes we can’t see God’s story because we just chew on the thoughts and word and never grow. We have to swallow them and digest them to receive the Truth. It’s like finding something good without looking for it: Serendipity. You just have to receive it. That my friends is simply grace.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2: 12-13

indefatigable

Incapable of being tired out. That’s a mother, yet even she succombs to sleep eventually after nursing a crying baby well into the night. Persisting tirelessly. A runner with aching body pushing on to the finish line with weighted steps, feet feeling like lead and cracked, dry lips parched and in need of hydration. Untiring. That’s our God.

How many times did the Israelites disobey God and do what was right in their own eyes? Seven times in over 300 years is how many and yet, God, rich in mercy continued to redeem the nation. How many times in our lives have we decided to go our own way, share our opinions and do what the world told us was right? Too many times perhaps, but God never tires out from forgiving us. He even provides different ways out of our sin and situations and offers us choices that we are free to make.

Many have heard the story of the farmer’s donkey who fell into a well. The farmer had no idea what to do as the donkey cried for hours unable to get out. Giving up, the farmer decided the donkey was old anyhow and wasn’t worth recovering. He and his neighbors started shoveling dirt into the well because it needed to be covered up anyhow. At first, the donkey heed and hawed but as they continued shoveling, the donkey was quiet. When they looked into the well, they saw the donkey shaking off the shovel of dirt and stepping up on the growing mound. With each shovel of dirt that hit the donkey’s back, he eventually stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

We too can shake those doubts off our shoulders and step into a right relationship with a God whose resourcefulness is never ending. He never gives up on us and helps us find a way “out of the well”.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13