What happens when the earth's people refuse God's Living Water?

"It's raining ashes in Tulsa."

That was the tweet from a Christian sister who lives in Oklahoma. Wildfires have struck that state the last few days and there is much damage.

We're scorched from one end of the nation to the other. We are experiencing heat, drought, fires, ash, dust, dryness and thirst...

Why is this? Because our hearts are hot for satan, we're drought-ridden from not being in the Word, and our consciences are seared as if with a hot iron. So it is no wonder, my glorious God, that You manifest on the outside what is on the inside of your people. You are the Living Water, but we refuse it. You are the refreshing dew but we don't want it. You give to us that is athirst the fountain of the water of life freely but we turn away. (Revelation 21:6).

"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ( John 4:14 ).

But your people say NO!

"Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce."
(Haggai 1:10)
Corn plants damaged by extreme heat and drought conditions
in Carmi, Illinois. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg. source

I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." (Isaiah 5:6)
Marion Kujawa looks over a pond he uses to water the cattle on his farm
on in Ashley, Ill. Kujawa has been digging the pond deeper after it
began to dry up during the current drought.

"The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed." (Deuteronomy 28:24)
In Luther, Okla., at least two dozen homes, a day care center and
other businesses have been destroyed by a wind-driven fire. source

Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke. (Isaiah 9:18)
A horse, which was eventually rescued, tries to escape
a wildfire Friday in central Oklahoma. Photo: Jerry Laizure, AP. source

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13).
Medina County: cisterns drying up in drought. source



I like to see the metaphors in how the LORD presents Himself to us. One of those ways is as the Living water, refreshing rain, a fountain of truth. Water, water, water. I also like to see His promises. We often focus on the 'good' promises, of eternal life, treasure in heaven, unconditional love. But He made other promises too. Like this one that He promises His people the Jews-

"If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments...Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase."  (Leviticus 26:3,4)

Although our covenant with Him as the grafted-in Gentiles is not the same as the covenant above, the principles are the same. We are still to walk in His ways and follow His statutes. If we do, then another of His promises will be fulfilled:

"And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." (Isaiah 58:11).

Barnes' Notes closes beautifully with an explanation of the Isaiah verse above. Man, those 1800's writers could write:

"But in the supplies which God makes for his people there is no such deception. The fountains of pardon, peace, and joy are ever open and ever full. The streams of salvation are always flowing. The weary pilgrim may go there at any season of the year, and from any part of a desolate world, and find them always full, refreshing, and free. However far may be the pilgrimage to them from amidst the waste and burning climes of sin, however many come to slake their thirst, and however frequently they come, they find them always the same. They never fail; and they will continue to flow on to the end of time."

Comments

  1. Good Lord´s day morning, Elizabeth.

    I don´t mind the bad news that are so obvious because we know that our redemption grows near. And I thank you to always provide the solution and encouraging us to keep on rejoicing, warning and uplifting your readers.

    These are sobering times indeed and at times my heart sinks from seeing the apostasy and a dangerous mind set of even christians who live in la la land.

    What happens if the ones who have the light refuse to guide or warn the ones who don´t? What happens if the ones who know where the store house is refuse to tell its location?
    What happens if the ones who know the place of refuge will not share its open secret?

    But we don´t have the option of quitting and we know that our Bridegroom is coming soon. This is the best comfort that I can find nowadays and I get up every morning longing for that.

    As Solomon wrote in Ecclesisates 8: "Obey the King´s command, I say, because you took an oath before God...since a king´s word is supreme who can say to him: what are you doing?....as no one is discharged in times of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it".

    We are in the middle of an ever growing spiritual war and the Lord has not released us. This is no time to flinch as we see wickedness engulfing the whole world in flames. We have a Savior, his Spirit and his Word and He has already won the victory at the cross, pretty soon we will take off our armor and trade it for wedding garments.

    My heart takes courage and beats the count down to that glorious day...

    Thank you again for your encouragement and your keeping strong in the battle, sharing with us your gifts of writing, encouragement and a generous heart.

    Here is a poem I wrote a few years ago.

    SINCE WE KNOW
    Since we know that the Lord is a consuming fire,
    That His Word is like a hammer and a flame,
    Let us be broken and go through the fire of affliction.
    Let us not resist the purifying work of the Holy Spirit.
    All He wants us to do is to remove the idols of our hearts,
    To take His rightful place on His throne, our altar.

    Since we know that He sent His prophet Ezekiel
    To speak life into the dead, dry bones,
    Will He not be able to bring together,
    What He has scattered?

    Since we know that He does not speak only
    To individuals, but to His whole body,
    Is He not the one that brings us together,
    To worship Him in Spirit and Truth,
    And to serve Him gladly?

    Since we know that He sees and hears our sorrow and affliction,
    And that He inhabits the praises of His people,
    As we gather in His Name
    And allow His Spirit and His word to purify us,
    As we abandon and surrender ourselves,
    In praise and worship to His majesty,
    Will He not send His Word to refresh us,
    To bind our wounds,
    And restore to us the joy of His salvation?

    Since we know that He came to set the prisoners free,
    And that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,
    Will He not break the bondage that prevents us
    From experiencing the full benefit of His blessed presence?

    Since we know that His grace and mercies abound,
    Will He not restore in us our first love for Him,
    And set our feet on a firm path?

    Since we know that He bids us:
    “Come, Now is the time of my salvation”,
    Will we not respond in faith, trust and obedience,
    Going and entering into the water flowing from His throne,
    Not only ankle deep, nor knee deep;
    But plunging wholeheartedly in the river of the Spirit,
    And be made well and whole?

    Since we know that only those who drink of the water of life,
    Will be able to share His life with others,
    Let us remember the woman at the well of Sichar.
    Are we thirsty? Then let us come and drink freely,
    The living water that costs nothing,
    And He will satisfy our thirst to overflowing to others.

    Jean-Louis

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jean-Louis,

      What a lovely poem! Thank you for sharing it. And thank you also for saying that I always provide the solution...I never want to sink into the bad news and stay there. You're so right, our Redemption draws near, and He is the treasure. If we keep our eyes lifted to Him now on earth He will lift us from our troubles by His righteous right hand, and soon, bodily into heaven!

      Funny, our pastor said the exact thing this morning that you said- 'we don't have the option of quitting.' I admit it is a struggle sometimes, but quitting really is not an option, nor is it a solution, is it? It sure will be nice though, when He gives us rest.

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    2. Amen! Elizabeth! It´s encouraging and comforting to see that Christians the world over are on the same wave length, no matter the distance. Some day I will share with you an anecdote along the same lines in which the Lord was so obviously involved.

      If you have time and inclination, I would like and appreciate your honest opinion about a parable I wrote a few years ago. I am asking you because my French friends will be honest and tell me what they think, but few people leave comments on my posts.

      I enjoy very much writing as an amateur and sharing what the Lord puts on my heart. Since you are a Southern transplant, you might not have acquired yet the prevalent and overwelming niceness of southern folks that confused me when I first lived in Kentucky.

      Here it is: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2011/07/joshua-tree-desert-parable_15.html

      Grace and peace to you.
      Jean-Louis.

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    3. Hi Elizabeth, I don´t know if you were able to read the parable in its entirety. I know that you are busy. I have been writing it over some period of time and it seems that some of the episodes are not linked properly. I am working on it and hope that the problem will be resolved soon. Have a good day with your little ones.

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    4. Hi Jean-Louis,

      I have read one of the parts, and then I got hammered with back to school...but I will finish reading them on Saturday, it will be my pleasure and privilege :)

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  2. Amen. People need to wake up and realize that God will not be mocked. You can't take Him off the shelf when you need Him then put Him back when everything returns to "normal". With the recent droughts, cold-blooded killings, pestilences, etc, people have asked "Where was God?" When you tell God you don't need Him and His protection, it's like having a security system in your home and WILLINGLY turning it off and then someone breaks in. Then asking afterwards well why did this happen? But all these events let me know that salvation is near. Everyday when I'm at work I find myself gazing at the sky out the window (as I work in a fast-food restaurant in drive-thru)and as I'm repeating back the orders, I find myself trailing off looking at the sky knowing any moment I will see Jesus coming in the clouds. "Therefore look up, for your redemption draws near." ~18 years old and a follower of Jesus Christ~

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