Sunday, July 03, 2005
Why the World Can Be a Dusty, Parched Place
“A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches.” —Genesis 2:10
Three blocks from my house the Tennessee River spreads out wide and moist through lowlands and underneath the I-65 Bridge. Most days I pass fishermen in their cars with cane poles extruding from the side windows like granddaddy-long-legs are sitting in the backseat with their legs exposed. They’re on their way to their favorite fishing hole. The place where they once caught a big fish, and each day they go back hoping to land an even bigger trophy bass.
That is life, I guess—a never ending search for something greater than what we’ve already experienced. But life is as mysterious as a river that conceals its inhabitants, and we don’t know from one day to the next what we are going to get. This world can be a dusty, parched place, and sometimes we get tired of catching nothing.
There’s not much I can tell you about the river that flows from the land of Eden, other than it put first things first. It watered the garden, and then it branched out in four different directions. And if there’s one mistake we all make, then it’s running off in all directions before we water the garden of our souls. “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and . . . You shall be like a watered garden . . .” (Isaiah 58:11, NKJ).
Allow the river to flow from the Throne of God by doing what Jesus said, “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (Matthew 6:6, The Message).
Walter Brueggemann once said, “Life is experienced as protected space.”
When we can’t sense, or touch, or feel life touch us back, the River of Life is still there. It’s always there flowing from the Throne of God to our doorstep, making mud out of the dusty, dead spots in our souls, toppling and washing away our mound of problems, affirming that the world is a well-ordered and reliable place. And God was before the river and He will be after.
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Something New. Read one of Robert's novels in progress. It's a sweet and tender love story that appeals to the romantic in all of us. Click the link: http://ablogofregrets.blogspot.com/
© 2007 by Robert Stofel
1 Comments:
Oh that wonderful river from the throne of our Lord washing our mound of problems! Thankyou Lord for making this posible for us to come to you in that quiet peaceful place with you! L.C. How refreshing, how cleansing!
