We remember the heat and drought of last summer. There will have been other occasions too when there might have been standpipes in your local community, when the traditional way of getting a drink of water was interrupted and very inconvenient.
You might have lived overseas at some point, when the seasons were very different from our temperate climate, which dictated your relationship with water. And who knew that one day we would be able to buy bottles of water, water that is claimed to have been filtered through mineral-rich rocks to provide even more goodness and sometimes an added fizz?
‘You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry parched land where there is no water’
(Psalm 63:1)
Our Scripture from Psalms describes the reality for the people that we have learned something about today. We have seen the earnest search for water; the importance of safely commuting this precious load back to the family; and the time, sacrifice and effort involved. We have also witnessed the delight and celebration of knowing that The Salvation Army’s project has been completed and that the water source is now nearby, accessible and personal.
We can superimpose that illustration over our search for God. Are we thirsty for him? What could we do – or have we done anything and everything we can – to find him, to be restored by him, to know the ongoing and everlasting power of his personal presence in our lives?
Perhaps next time we are thirsty or even when we are delighted by a lovely cup of tea, it can be a reminder to be thankful that God is close, and our needs are met in him.
‘Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honour me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.’
(Isaiah 43:18-21)
In this Scripture from Isaiah, the water comes supernaturally from God’s provision to the most unlikely of places – the wilderness and the wasteland. Of course, God is at work through The Salvation Army and similar organisations, and the provision of water to communities like the ones we have seen today is literal. But what about us?
Where might the wildernesses and wastelands be in our life, our family, our community, the place where we live and maybe volunteer? Can we notice and perceive the places where God is refreshing and renewing, celebrating when it happens? Or are we aware of a hardness, a sense of grief, a difficult relationship, an ongoing conflict that could do with a resolution?
Isaiah goes on to say that God’s provision of water and spiritual refreshment is to:
‘give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise’
(Isaiah 43:20-21)
The challenge for us, his people, is to proclaim his praise and share the good news of the refreshment that we find in him whenever we can. And maybe, over the next few days, especially when that’s prompted by a lovely drink of water or a delicious cuppa!
PRAYER
Finish with a time of prayer – your own, from a member, or choose one from Prayer Matters.
