You visit the earth and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening its showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with Your bounty. Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. (Verses 9-11)
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fall, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47
Ezekiel had a vision of the heavenly Tabernacle. A man appeared to him, shining like bronze. In the man's hand was a cord and a stick for measuring. The prophet was shown the temple as the bronze being measured its rooms. Their ultimate destination was the east-facing door of the temple. Water trickled from beneath the threshold there. Ezekiel was then led down the stairs and outside to the place where the water began to flow in a larger stream from the east gate. They stepped into it and the man measured eighteen inches between himself and Ezekiel. Water flowed about Ezekiel's ankles. The prophet followed as the man led him another eighteen inches where the water was up to their ankles. Again the measuring. Again the stepping forward. Now the water was up to Ezekiel's waist. At last Ezekiel was afloat in a river too deep to walk through. Swimming in water now abundantly flowing from the Tabernacle of God. Splashing about in living water.
"Son of man, have you seen this?" A question from the bronze one. "Everything will live where this water flows."
Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman tells her about this water. An outcast because of her promiscuity, she must come to the well at noon when the cleaner women are not there. Jesus wants a drink.
"Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan, to get you a drink?" She is honest.
"If you knew who I am, you would as me for living water," He replied. "Then you would never be thirsty again."
"Give me some of that water!" Never have to come to this dumb well again.
Jesus, I think, picks up a clay cup and looks at it. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. My water satisfies so much you won't want any other. It comes from a spring welling up and giving eternal life." He shows her the cup. "This water comes from an earthly well. They dry up."
Dry? Are cracks appearing in the soil around you? The river of God is full of water. Literally, He sends the rains and the sunshine to plump and grow the harvest. If our wagons are so full they make ruts in the earth as we take them to market, He is responsible for the abundance. But all of that flows from a stream that surges from the power center of the universe. None of that matters if we miss that our lives are parched and withered without our stepping fully into the joys of the spewing river of life. Put your ankle in lately? Trust a little more. Get knee-deep in the rising tide. Jesus would take your hand and lead you fully into the swim, for these waters replenish, nourish and wash us clean. Splash! Drink big, heaving gulps! Because in this stream is joy, joy, joy!
Then the angel showed me the river of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb..... Revelation 22
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fall, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47
Ezekiel had a vision of the heavenly Tabernacle. A man appeared to him, shining like bronze. In the man's hand was a cord and a stick for measuring. The prophet was shown the temple as the bronze being measured its rooms. Their ultimate destination was the east-facing door of the temple. Water trickled from beneath the threshold there. Ezekiel was then led down the stairs and outside to the place where the water began to flow in a larger stream from the east gate. They stepped into it and the man measured eighteen inches between himself and Ezekiel. Water flowed about Ezekiel's ankles. The prophet followed as the man led him another eighteen inches where the water was up to their ankles. Again the measuring. Again the stepping forward. Now the water was up to Ezekiel's waist. At last Ezekiel was afloat in a river too deep to walk through. Swimming in water now abundantly flowing from the Tabernacle of God. Splashing about in living water.
"Son of man, have you seen this?" A question from the bronze one. "Everything will live where this water flows."
Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman tells her about this water. An outcast because of her promiscuity, she must come to the well at noon when the cleaner women are not there. Jesus wants a drink.
"Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan, to get you a drink?" She is honest.
"If you knew who I am, you would as me for living water," He replied. "Then you would never be thirsty again."
"Give me some of that water!" Never have to come to this dumb well again.
Jesus, I think, picks up a clay cup and looks at it. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. My water satisfies so much you won't want any other. It comes from a spring welling up and giving eternal life." He shows her the cup. "This water comes from an earthly well. They dry up."
Dry? Are cracks appearing in the soil around you? The river of God is full of water. Literally, He sends the rains and the sunshine to plump and grow the harvest. If our wagons are so full they make ruts in the earth as we take them to market, He is responsible for the abundance. But all of that flows from a stream that surges from the power center of the universe. None of that matters if we miss that our lives are parched and withered without our stepping fully into the joys of the spewing river of life. Put your ankle in lately? Trust a little more. Get knee-deep in the rising tide. Jesus would take your hand and lead you fully into the swim, for these waters replenish, nourish and wash us clean. Splash! Drink big, heaving gulps! Because in this stream is joy, joy, joy!
Then the angel showed me the river of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb..... Revelation 22
No comments:
Post a Comment