Tuesday, 24 June 2008

• Artistic Challenge - Living Water

  How ironic and appropriate it is that Living Water should be the first artistic challenge at inhisimage.

  I have been thinking and have finally come to the realization that I am entering one of those ‘dry’ periods when all my thoughts and feelings begin to shrivel. My connectivity to God and Jesus is slowly evaporating. Does this mean that I am in a spiritual crisis? No. Well, not yet at least. I don’t feel as if I am under attack, either. It doesn’t seem so. Life has been as normal as normal can ever be for me. In fact, nothing has changed externally. But there is a growing parchedness to my devotions. My quiet time is…too quiet. I’m becoming a bit thirsty.

  I’ve been here before. So have you.

   

  We all thrive in the wet times. Life is good. I remember the joy of a long running leap off Abba’s dock and landing in a cannonball into Jesus’ river.  His blessings were effortlessly available. The Lord’s word and wonders were everywhere, pooling in glistening ponds, raining from the sky soaking in and overflowing. The dew coats the lush green of your soul every morning. Outstretched hands are immediately filled with a cool refreshing satisfying draft of invigorating water. It revives your spirit; washing over you like the waves on a restless sea. One has only to reach out his cup for a long and soothing drink. We hardly notice the water level as it recedes. A day or two of dewless mornings are easily ignored.

  Psa 107:33  He turneth rivers into a wilderness, And watersprings into a thirsty ground;

  It’s a struggle to search, to find, the words to express my need for a mere sip.

  Psa 63:1  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, In a dry and weary land, where no water is.

   

  Drought leaves its signature everywhere. Color is drained from the landscape. Dullness invades the soil. Even the breeze sucks the moisture from your soul. The lush grass from the times of plenty becomes brown and brittle. But in reality the grass isn’t dead; it’s simply dormant waiting for the next rain. Occasionally, you will notice a tree, or a shrub, or a clump of weeds clinging tenuously to life. How do they survive? They have tap roots… a root that digs deep, strong, straight down to where the water still remains hidden far below the level of the wilderness.  

  So, the realization that the river is slowing is in of itself a warning. Now I have a choice to make. I can drift along and hope for a renewing. I could prepare myself for a pity party, because the drier it gets the more melancholy I become. I could turn away. The desert is not a pleasant place. Its hot and tiresome, a difficult place to breathe or to find shelter. Or I could reach deep and search for the Living Water that I stored up during the times of plenty. And stored up I have!!! Experience has taught me the wisdom of preparing for the drought. Still it will take a determined purpose and hard work to haul it to the surface.

  Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

  

   

  Therefore I will earnestly seek His face. I will trust Him when he says that I’m not alone. I know that this is only temporary… I will praise Him knowing that what I feel is never the benchmark of reality. What is real is His loving care for me. I will wait patiently for the dew to return as I drink deeply from the well of Living Water.

   

  Psa 107:35  He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water, And a dry land into watersprings.

   

  

   

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