Drought
I live in the desert. We have been experiencing drought conditions for as long as I can remember, which is decades. Everywhere you turn are brown, dead plants. Few survive. Some plants, mostly cactuses, adapt by absorbing what little water is available, storing it for the future. Other plants have a life span of only a few months. Every living thing needs water; not too much nor too little.
Our spiritual lives can experience a drought. Most recently, I’ve concluded I had not been consciously thinking about God or asking Him for directions in the plans I was making. I realized I hadn’t actually felt God’s hand in my life for some time. Realizing you’ve been going through days without the comforting closeness of God can dry you up and parch your soul. Our thoughts and actions take on the dark, limp essence of dead plants. We have no life. We go about our days without enthusiasm, passion, or purpose. We search for God, but He seems hidden from our path. We worry!
This is not the abundant life Jesus spoke of. As David laments while hiding in the desert in Psalm 63:1b, “My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
Have you ever felt like this?
We can be like the cactus, though, absorbing God’s Word to live on during those days when the soul shrivels and cries out for living water. Unlike plants, we cannot get too much! This living water nourishes us to blossom into people following God’s will for our lives. Possessing God’s Word. Starting our days with Scripture watering our purposes, directing our steps, and opening us up to God’s communications, brings on that life abundant.
Paul sent to the Philippians a description of his life in chapter 4: 12-13 NLT, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Italics mine). That strength is available to us.
Listen to David in Psalm 42:11, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God.” In discontent and desperation, we remember the Saints of the past and how they responded to life like ours. They praised God in all circumstances, rejoicing in his bounty. In Philippians 4:6 Paul says, “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God about what you need and thank him for all that He has done.” Thank Him.
Finally, David tells us in Psalm 30:11, that if we submit to God, live by His precepts, we too can say, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.”
Let’s dance.
I live in the desert. We have been experiencing drought conditions for as long as I can remember, which is decades. Everywhere you turn are brown, dead plants. Few survive. Some plants, mostly cactuses, adapt by absorbing what little water is available, storing it for the future. Other plants have a life span of only a few months. Every living thing needs water; not too much nor too little.
Our spiritual lives can experience a drought. Most recently, I’ve concluded I had not been consciously thinking about God or asking Him for directions in the plans I was making. I realized I hadn’t actually felt God’s hand in my life for some time. Realizing you’ve been going through days without the comforting closeness of God can dry you up and parch your soul. Our thoughts and actions take on the dark, limp essence of dead plants. We have no life. We go about our days without enthusiasm, passion, or purpose. We search for God, but He seems hidden from our path. We worry!
This is not the abundant life Jesus spoke of. As David laments while hiding in the desert in Psalm 63:1b, “My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
Have you ever felt like this?
We can be like the cactus, though, absorbing God’s Word to live on during those days when the soul shrivels and cries out for living water. Unlike plants, we cannot get too much! This living water nourishes us to blossom into people following God’s will for our lives. Possessing God’s Word. Starting our days with Scripture watering our purposes, directing our steps, and opening us up to God’s communications, brings on that life abundant.
Paul sent to the Philippians a description of his life in chapter 4: 12-13 NLT, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Italics mine). That strength is available to us.
Listen to David in Psalm 42:11, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God.” In discontent and desperation, we remember the Saints of the past and how they responded to life like ours. They praised God in all circumstances, rejoicing in his bounty. In Philippians 4:6 Paul says, “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God about what you need and thank him for all that He has done.” Thank Him.
Finally, David tells us in Psalm 30:11, that if we submit to God, live by His precepts, we too can say, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.”
Let’s dance.
