"We're ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground." --Hosea 6:3
It was one of those mornings where you KNEW it was raining without even looking outside. You could hear it. You could hear that it wouldn't stop. It was not one of those mild tempermental bursts, it was a steady, thick shower. Sure enough, an hour later when I was ready to leave for work...it was still coming down. This is one of those rains that make the farmers breath a sigh of relief.
Did you ever get so stuck in the dryness of your life that you wish someone or something would just come and drench you, just wash away the old life and let you start fresh? Jerimiah 7:5 talks about the conditions of God moving in and taking over our temple...
"Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors..."
As I close my eyes, I know He is my endless spring...I know His rains of life never cease. But I can't get washed clean if I stay in the house. All He asks is that I step out of my comfort zone and let Him do the rest. But it's hard to put our business out in the street. To open ourselves up and show our clutter, our inhospitality. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us who fear to leave the dry place, whose pride keeps us stuck.
"Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." --John 4:14
We can be sure of this. His love will never fail, never dry up. It is so easy to love Him, but the hard work is giving up loving ourselves more than Him....
What terrible things selfish love does to us...and to others. If we could all only submit our flesh to the one who created it for daily updates!
"This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on. A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?" --James 3:10-11
Why do we think that we can wallow in our own muck and come out smelling like roses? So great the miracles, the things He has redeemed in us and saved us from. But He needs to keep doing it. We need to submit ourselves daily to Him, to His word. No matter how mature we are as Christians, we are not immune to sin. There are times it seems to be at every side. But God is as sure as that Spring rain to come and wash all of the sin away. If we humble ourselves and get out in the rain, He will give us the strength to start raining down on the struggles in our lives. Don't you want to be the kind of person that the devil says 'Here comes a storm I can't handle'?
"The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes." --Revelation 7:17
Fill me, Lord. Use me. Let me dedicate my life, find my purpose in you. My mother always taught me as a small child that on a rainy day we will surely meet people who need cheering up. She told me to wear a splash of red to lift someone's spirit. Red on a gloomy day can cheer up somebody and they can cheer up the next person and so on and so on...It is so engrained in me that I automatically reach for red on a rainy day. Not too much, but just enough to remind us to keep smiling...
Red represents our warfare, our covering, our celebration and love of God. Today I walk in the shoes of peace...looking for someone to cheer up with my red shoes, someone to celebrate with, to commiserate with...to humble myself for, to elevate myself with.
Peace to you from the center of the puddle... :-)
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