Starving for Water

Starving for Water

It has been said beliefs are as brittle as the dried up trees stripped of life in the desert. From afar they offer the promise of water in a weary land and you dig and dig finding nothing but crumbling roots and sand. Our hearts grow tire and soon it isn't water that we are longing for it is rest from the grueling sun. We as believers are dyeing thirst. What happened to the promise that if we drink from His cup we will thirst no more?

I have deprived my self of water before and have become extremely thirsty, but if I do not drink when my body tells me to then the sensors turn off the trigger of thirst.  This major thirst happens when you are exerting a lot of energy. It's when you pour yourself ice cold water your drinks are deep and they are refreshing. What if we had warm water in those moments and we just sipped even just wet our mouth would we be satisfied? The complainant christian is a warm water drinker. Not drinking to much a sip just here and there. 

Not long ago we moved to Az. We moved from washington state. There was a time about 7 years ago where we lived in the high foot hills of Stevens Pass. The water came from natural water springs. OML! The water is amazing, there is nothing I mean nothing sweeter than fresh cool crisp clean water. I had become what you would call a water snob. I could tell the difference of good water even when living in the city limits. The water here in AZ is nothing like I have had before. The drinking water is piped in from miles and miles away from most likely a good water source. By the time that it reaches my foist it has most likely made a several day journey in the hot hot sun, gone through a few processing plants to make it drinkable again, where a 1/3 of your daily salt amount is added to make is soft water a few other things to mask pollutants that it has gathered along the way and then bam, I have the sickest water ever. 

This is much like most believers walks with God. You have a divine God moment and they'll feed off that moment for years having no new experiences or growth with God. Then one day it's realized that you have been a believer for 20 years and have no idea who you are, or why you are even hear. You've sustain so many wounds you began to question if God ever, wanted you, loved you or purposed you for anything worth while. Somewhere in all of this you began to feel like a random Israelite. Wondering through a endless deserts and grave yards of desires unmet. We are dyeing of thirst.

John Eldredge tells the story in his book the The Journey of Desire, of the sea lion that has lost its way in the desert. It's shares the depth of our being deceived. The sea lion is resting in the cool ocean tides under the fresh morning sun. Along comes a turtle who tells the sea lion that he knows of a better place. The sea lion is convinced by the turtle that there is something better out there and he follows the turtle out of the water and away from the sea. Every so often there would be a breeze off the ocean that would bring fond memories of the sea and days swimming with his friends in the ocean eating and drinking. The sea lion begins to become thirsty and tells the turtle that he should have some water. The turtle tells the sea lion that it is just a little ways off. Soon the days turned into weeks and the weeks took him far away from the sea. The smell of the sea became less and less. Then one day when the sea lion way barely able to move the turtle shows the sea lion a place to refresh. There in the near distance is a rock and a pool of water and a bit of shade offered by a tree. The sea lion jumped into the water and sank into the warm murky watering whole. But because the sea lion was famished from his long journey he felt that the journey home would be to much and so he decided to stay. Every once in a great while the sea lion could swore that he could smell the sea, but the sea was hundreds of miles away. After years of being alone in the desert and scorched from the sun the sea lion has a visitor from the sea who is stopping on the way to a journey. The visitor begins to tell the sea lion stories of the sea. The sea lion begins to remember how happy he was and de decides to go home. The turtle come by and see that the sea lion is leaving and the whole journey home the turtle is trying to convince the sea lion that he cannot handle the ocean that no one will know him for he no longer is a sea lion. 

This is not the word for word as the story is written, but the same message. How many of us have an experience with God and then along comes his most hated enemy who makes everything that is worldly seems so much more convenient alluring and fulfilling. We fall for it, maybe its as simple as grabbing an ice cream cone to feel better, or being to tired to read the bible and study so you turn on the news and watch TV for the next few hours. How about finding it easier to not work through a issue with your teenager and letting them disappear into there rooms just one night at a time. It is a slow fade. One step in the wrong direction at a time. 

I was feeling the dryness of the desert and was crying out to God. Wondering have we made a mistake. Are we being allured into the desert? I opened my bible to Isaiah 27 where Isaiah is talking about the deliverance of Israel. 

By warfare and exile you contend with her

with his fierce blast he drives her out, 

as on a day the east wind blows.

 By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for

and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin

When he makes all the alter stones to be like chalk stones

crushed to pieces. No asherah poles or incense altars

will be left standing.  The fortified city stands desolate, 

an abandoned settlement, forsaken; like the desert. 

There the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and the women 

come and make fires with them; for this is a people with out understanding,

It made me think of the dryness of church and battle for men to be the image of strength and not passivity in the church. It's hard to find a good handshake or even a deep conversation. The woman devour control as if its there only life line. I my self have struggled with control and the more I walk with God the role I desire to be in is not the front seat position, but rather a fierce devotion to the leadership with in my husband. The more he comes alive in who he is the more I discover that my love and beauty holds more power and influence in the advancement of the kingdom through the strength of my husband and the tenderness and venerability of my heart. No longer would I, we need to strip the desert for life or graze our calfs ( children and congregation )on the remnants of life in the desert. But, we could with stand the heat to tell stories of the sea. Out of our hearts would flow fresh water. The path of our hands and feet would bring worship and praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ our king! Will be be willing to drink deeply daily going where ever God is moving wether it be the past or the unknown? Will we loose our life to find it so that we will thirst for the worlds water no more?