Drinking It In

Thanksgiving Gratitude Edition

Guest Writer - Kathy Legg

Land that drinks in rain often falling on it and produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. Hebrews 6:7

I live in a semi-arid zone, where rain does not often fall. And when it does the hard dry clay soil may not be well able to drink it in! It pools and puddles on the surface, or runs off in rivulets.

Desperate Drought

The drought in Jeremiah’s day was fierce. Rich and poor were equally frantic trying to fill empty water-jars. Cisterns were bone-dry; farmers were helpless and dismayed; the ground cracked under the heat of the sun and the next generation of wild-life hung in the balance.

Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn

because there is no grass.

Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and

 pant like jackals. Jeremiah 14:5 

Drought is a terrible thing and Jeremiah pleads with God - “do something – for God’s sake Jeremiah 14:7.”

From Sea to Sea to Sea

With oceans on three coasts, Canada proudly celebrates her 144th birthday today from coast to coast to coast. Back in the days of confederation, Canada’s leaders chose a Biblical reference as a motto. In the words of the King James Bible, Psalm 72:8 says,

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

It was a vision that Canadians would recognize God’s authority in our laws and life together – and that God would extend his blessing upon every corner of the nation.

Landscape of Life

In the previous two posts, Water Cycle and Never Empty-Handed, we explored two wonders of the hydrologic cycle.

First is the wide array of effects that rain and snow have on the natural environment, both directly and multiplied through inter-action with other processes. The second is the parallel impact that God’s communiques have on the landscape of our hearts.

Like rain and snow, the Bible is designed by God to have a transforming effect on our lives.

Downpour

Three years with no rain had left the land depleted and dry.

The showdown on Mount Carmel between Yahweh and Baal had confirmed which god deserved worship.  "Yahweh is God," the people had chorused.  But Yahweh's purpose was not self-aggrandisement or public acclaim.  Yahweh was - and is - intensely passionate about people and their well-being. He cared too much for the land and its people to leave the soil dusty and dead.  Rain was desperately needed - and that was to be the next demonstration of the character of the true Rain-maker God.  Read the story in 1 Kings 18:41-46 

Break-through

Guerilla warfare depends on evasion, stealth and surprise, and David was a master at the game. He had honed his skills through 20 years on the run from King Saul, but now that Saul was dead, David faced an even more formidable foe. The combined Philistine confederacy was moving in for the kill. 2 Samuel 5:17-25.

When David learned this he reverted to guerilla tactics instead of direct assault. He retreated to the caves near the Dead Sea and prayed for God’s counsel. With divine direction he attacked and routed the Philistines decisively.

Coming Clean - Starting Over

Things weren't going well for Israel. Politically they were fragmented, they ware militarily impotent and economically depressed. For decades they had experimented with local religious practices and were mired in idolatry. Somehow they were now at a breaking point - and breaking points can become turning points.

Thundering Hallelujahs

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Three times in the closing book of the Bible, we hear the cascading roar of rushing water.

The first ‘waterfall’ in the opening scene was the powerful voice of the Living Christ, giving the story-teller John a message of comfort and hope to his suffering church on earth.

The sound and sight of water cascading down rocks or thundering over the lip of a precipice does something to you. It soothes and energizes you at the same time. The water seems almost alive as it rushes forward and down – always down – almost like it was on a mission. Jesus, of course is the ultimate waterfall, plunging headlong into the mission of salvation for the whole of God’s creation.

Royal Wedding

In honor of the wedding today of William and Kate in Westminister Abbey, I’m re-posting some thoughts from October 17 on the ancient words from the Song of Solomon about water and love:

Many waters cannot quench love;

Nor can rivers drown it.

Song of Solomon, 8:6-7

The minister told the royal couple in Westminister Abbey today - and millions watching on television - that every wedding is a witness to hope. But it is an island of hope in a very perilous sea.

Listen Up!

If only Peter could capture the magic of this moment. Jesus had brought them up on this mountain to give them new perspective – and what a sight opened up in front of them!

Peter had often seen Jesus deep in prayer, but this time, without explanation, Jesus’ appearance began glistening with sunlight. Lightning lingered about his face, searing light. Ancient history came to life before their eyes as Moses and Elijah emerged out of thin air and joined the conversation.

Unaccustomed to paranormal things, Peter quivered with perplexity and dismay. He always felt more comfortable when he was at the center of things and influencing outcomes. Instinctively he grasped for something he could do or some way he could contribute to the discussion. His mind engineered tents of hospitality and he proposed his plan.

Thirst-Quencher

It is one of the high-water marks of the Bible’s entire witness to water and the grace of God. It happened during the annual Jewish Festival of Tabernacles.

This late-summer festival looked back in history to Israel's exodus and God’s provision of water in the desert, and it looked ahead to the dream of Israel’s restored honor among the nations as predicted in Zechariah 14:16. Every year pilgrims came to Jerusalem from every direction in what Josephus called as “a most holy and most eminent feast.”
- Antiquities of the Jews, VIII, iv, 1.

* * * Feast of Tabernacles painting - Valerie R Jackson

Earthquake and Tsunami

Apocalyptic!  That is how one news anchor described the scene in Japan in the wake of an 8.9 strength earthquake and its tsunami aftermath!

The focus of this blog is the wonder of the natural world of water and what it shows us about God's grace.

The stunning video footage of the tsunami shows us convincing evidence of the devastating power of water to splinter buildings, roll boats and cars, trains and aircraft like wine-corks and wipe out whole towns.

Where we might ask is the grace of God?

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Guilt is a terrible thing.  But if there is something worse than guilt, its name would be Denial.  Denial is the paralyzing refusal to come to terms with the monster that is destroying you.

Helen Rynne as Lady Macbeth

A grim scene in Macbeth illustrates the destructive power of repressed and unacknowledged guilt:  Lady Macbeth sleep-walking the halls of her castle with a candle, trying in vain to scour the damning blood-guilt from her hands.

Yet here's a spot . . .

Out, damned spot! out, I say! . . .

Who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him? . . .

What, will these hands ne'er be clean? . . .

Here's the smell of the blood still:
All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand.

Oh, oh, oh!

Her façade is cracking; denial is hard to sustain. 

The Invisible but Vital Resource

A recent report by the C.D. Howe Institute on protecting Canada’s groundwater reserves calls them ‘the invisible but vital resource’. That phrase perfectly describes the theme of today’s Wonder of Water post about a fiery Spanish nun.

In her early years as a nun Theresa of Avila (1515-1585) was bored with prayer and luke-warm towards God. Yet she longed to be spiritually alive and to know God in the core of her soul - and eventually came to a place of passionate love for God.

In her autobiography, The Book of My Life, she tells how she grew in her experience of prayer, how God’s love became for her ‘an invisible but vital resource’. Using the imagery of water, she illustrates four stages of this journey.

Rizpah and the Rain

Suffering sometimes triggers good soul-searching. And a three-year drought set King David on a desperate search for answers.

What he uncovered was a story of treachery and genocide that hadn’t registered a flicker on the national conscience.
See 2 Samuel 21:1-14.

It involved one of Israel’s tribal neighbors, the Gibeonites, who lived east of the Jordan. By ancient treaty, (see Joshua 9) these people had enjoyed protection and immunity from attack by Israel. But David’s predecessor, Saul broke faith and attempted to annihilate them – and almost succeeded.

Into Thin Air

NOTE - This particular post by far the most popular entry for 2010 on this Wonder of Water blog. I'd love to know why. Please add your thoughts below.

It happens in coffee shops day and night around the world . . . 

It wafts from the breath of every person on the planet . . .    

Mist rises from golf courses and wetlands ... Steam soars from industry stacks and tree-tops ... 

Water evaporates from the Bay of Bengal and transpires from plants.

Evapo-transpiration feeds the hydrologic cycle – that process that circulates water, purges the air and nourishes life on earth.

Gideon's Dry Fleece

"Your doubts will evaporate like dew when the waiting is over."

Luci Shaw, Water My Soul.

Call him a reluctant warrior. For seven years, God was silent as the marauding Midianites raided their farms at harvest time.  So when Yahweh’s messenger called Gideon a ‘mighty man of valor’ and told him that God was with him, the man was a tad skeptical. Waiting can do that to you.

It seemed to Gideon that God was more absent than active, more a god of legends than a God of the real world where thieves plundered crops with impunity. When the angel told Gideon to ‘gird up his strength’ and deliver Israel, he asked for a sign and received  dramatic evidence of God's power. But it was not enough.