Enduring a Drought

Recently, in the area that I live we have been struggling with a pretty bad season of drought. Many many farmers are struggling with watering their fields. Some, worrying if it might destroy the entirety of their crop. And here I am just hoping my tiny little garden could get a drop of rain so I don’t have to go water it myself… Oh, how I seek the Lord to change my heart!

But isn’t this how it goes. We are in a a season that is different than what is to be expected. Hard. Even dry. A season where we are filled with the wanting, the thirsting for what we desire to come. Sometimes, expect to come. The sobering truth is, sometimes the very thing we want doesn’t come in the way we expected it at all. Our hearts desires look to the rain, praying it will pour out before us with little toil at all. But a truly loving God wouldn’t just hand us those little futile desires. He wants to give us the very thing that would quench the thirst of our souls.

This is quite humbling for me to admit, but I catch myself wanting my heart to be filled with the temporal things more than the living water that will keep me truly satisfied. I tell myself the little lie that its okay to love these earthly passions. I mean, Its not inherently wrong to want to homestead right?? No, its not wrong. But it is wrong to want that more than our daily bread.

In the old testament when the Israelite’s where wandering in the desert they cried out in desperation for food. So the Lord prepared both Quail and Manna. The Lord heard their cry and graciously sent food down from the sky for the entirety of His people. God commanded that the people only take a days worth, but, when the Lord sent the food He saw that when the Israelite’s were gathering the manna, they were taking much more than what was needed for a days worth of eating.

Imagine how hard this must have been for the people? First they were promised a land flowing with milk and honey and they struggled with doubt so they were then sent to wander in the dessert. Then they had gone through a period where they were completely famished and now they finally got something to eat and they thought “whats the harm in saving the leftovers”?

Now look at how God must have felt. He had rescued them from the oppressors of Egypt and what did His chosen people do? They wished to go back into the hands that beat them. The hands who forced them to kill their children. The nation that used their lives for the building an nu-Godly nation. Then, He promised a land to His people and commanded they not fear the nations dwelling within the land. But, against the Lords command, they allowed themselves to loose faith in the Lords endless power and from this deliberate disobedience, the Lord being a loving Heavenly Father had to deal a just consequence. Then on top of that, they were just given food, and they never lifted a word of thanks…

Lets pause. Before we think of the Israelite’s as heedless fools, how far away is this description from sounding like us? Have we ever wanted to go back towards a sin struggle because it secretly felt good? Have we ever been promised something that we doubted the Lords power and goodness in? Have we ever been given a gift in a time of need and then been so quick to forget the Lords generosity and run to the next “want” on our list?

To answer the question, were really not far. And no, God didn’t rescue us from Egypt, but He did send His only son to die blameless, for us (filled with wretchedness) so that we may then live free from the bondage of sin and shame, and then get to bask in the delight of a promised eternity with Him!!

This pill is hard to swallow, but we really don’t have any reason to not fervently desire to have the perfect allotment of what Jesus has for us in this very day! Whether that’s a rain shower or the water from the hose that we have to continue to walk over and feed our gardens. That is what is truly good for us!

So, during this drought. During this hard, dry, season. Let us seek with open arms the gift that God is wanting to bestow upon us. Maybe its a gift of a conviction, or a season that is meant to be spent on a specific focus. Whatever it is, there are many ways in which the Lord reaches down into our lives to continue to sanctify us.

Now, this isn’t easy to be sanctified, because it typically means we need to die to ourselves in some way shape or form. This sanctification will most likely be quite hard. But that doesn’t mean that we still can’t welcome it. As believers we have the power of Christ at our disposal and we can seek His strength (the strength he possessed in baring the cross) to cherish His will. For His will is far greater than our own.

Sois béni,

Emma