It was just one of those weeks, folks. What promised to be a light schedule quickly turned into a series of first world problems. Instead of complaining, I’ll look for God’s sovereign purposes so I can turn chaos into a Christ-centered contemplation.
The only thing I find in common with a flooded basement, a “frost-free” refrigerator that won’t defrost, and a dead dishwasher is water. It’s either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or it’s not there at all. The timely and reliable control of water plays a huge role in our lives, whether in modern or ancient times.
Scripture references water frequently. Maiym, the Hebrew transliteration for “water”, appears 525x in the Old Testament; likewise, hydor (Greek) appears 70x. It’s featured in the creation of the earth (Gen. 1:9), acted as the main mechanism of God’s judgment in Noah’s day (Gen. ch.6-7), and supplied cities with its life-supporting function (2Ki. 20:20). It was miraculously given to the Israelites (Ex. 17:1), Samson (Ju. 15:19), and Jehoshaphat’s army (2Ki. 3:16-20). The Lord controls when and where it rains (Amos 4:7). Moses and Joshua divided it. Jesus and Peter walked on it.
Somehow these all point to spiritual realities. Isaiah refers to the water of affliction. Other metaphors include the water of salvation and the water of life. When we consider how God saves sinners, by directing His Word in due season to one of His elect, we perceive that God is the ultimate Water Manager, both physically and spiritually.
Believers are exhorted to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Our Lord Jesus shall sanctify and cleanse His church with the washing of water by the word. God’s promise through the prophet Ezekiel is that He will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. No deed is so great that God’s water of salvation can’t cleanse. After listing many horrible sins, the Apostle Paul writes such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. This surely is that fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Jesus boldly declared, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
When the Lord chooses to afflict sinners, He sometimes withholds the rain. Elijah told Ahab as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. Hosea pleaded for Israel and Judah to repent, lest God make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. He also may create a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
Why does God weary men with spiritual drought? Simply put, to alert them to their deepest need. Jesus said blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. It seems He sifts for true saints like David: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Even today, Jesus still cries out, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. In mercy, He will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. But am I truly thirsty?
Faithful men use God’s word to their benefit, while those who are ungodly seem to like spiritual famines: for the earth which drinketh in the rain … bringeth forth herbs and receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. Jeremiah says cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness. Jeremiah goes on to compare the man who truly trusts God to a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. May we be mindful to regularly direct God’s water to our souls; then these other things won’t matter as much.
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