The River of Life

During the torrential rains last week I noticed that as the rain continued to pour from the sky, it eventually made its way to the dry places where it had not been before.

I looked down at my feet and water began to pour into the area where I was sitting.  Nothing was stopping the movement of this water and as it flowed it crept over the dry barren places into the cracks and crevices where no life was growing.

Ezekiel watched water streaming from beneath the door of the temple and traveling past the alter of God.

Eventually the water level increased until he could no longer walk in it but it became deep enough to swim in.

As he was led to the riverbank he noticed many trees growing along the bank of the river.  As the water flowed through the desert,  it made salty water pure and life flourished wherever it flowed.

Swarms of living things came forth from the provision of this water that proceeded from the sanctuary of God. Bountiful fruit trees were growing on either side of the banks of this river.

The leaves of these trees would never turn brown and the branches would always bear fresh fruit.  The fruit produced by these trees would provide nourishment for others and their leaves would provide healing.

This reminds me of God's provision for our lives to flourish in dry places as mentioned in Psalm 46

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.  God in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.  

and in Psalm 105 how the Lord provided for the Israelites in the desert

He opened the rock, and water gushed out; if flowed through the desert like a river.  For he remembered his holy promise... So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing.  And he gave them the lands of the nations and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. 

As we cry out for help in the dry barren place of our lives, God has provided a refreshing in His presence, as fruit producing river for nourishment to cause life to spring forth where there was no life, to cleanse and purify us in the areas of our heart where salty waters lurk.

As we approach Him in His sanctuary we can drink deeply from his presence from the Rock of our salvation and the source of all joy Jesus!

And as a result we become fruit bearing, never having withered leaves but able to be a blessing and bring healing to many through the well spring of His presence in our lives.

When we trust in His provision for our lives and see that it is more than sufficient in bringing life to our dead hearts, we are blessed.

Jeremiah 17:5-7 shows us the danger in trusting in our own hearts as we view the alternative in a juxtaposition in the text.

... cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

Wow!  When we trust in our own strength and or the strength of others and the provision they can provide for our lives, we are an uninhabited salt land, unfruitful and parched.  This is a land devoid of the presence and power of God our maker.

Now look as v. 7

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.  He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

So when we choose to trust in the LORD's abundant provision for our lives, even when we can't see it, and we set aside all fear and plow our roots deep alongside the stream of God, not growing anxious but trusting Him completely as our source of life, we will not stop bearing fruit!

John was shown this celestial river that flows, even today, from the throne of God and of the Lamb in Revelation 22.

... on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.  The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  And night will be no more.  They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

The Lord is our source and our life.  When we allow our roots to grow deep into his presence we see him more and more as He is and we become like Him.

We can look forward to the day when Jesus returns and we can trust Him that he is a God that does not lie.   Numbers 23:19 says:  God is not a man that He should lie.   He is trustworthy.  The angel in Revelation 6 confirms it

.... These words are trustworthy and true.

He is trustworthy Period!

Let us not rely on our own strength or our own understanding of the world in which we live and the circumstances that arise but let us call out for him to rescue us from our own propensity to trust in ourselves.  Let us hold fast to the Rock of our salvation and drink deeply from the stream that pours forth from His presence so that we can grow, flourish and produce an abundant harvest out of the desert of our lives and be used to heal and restore the people that we come in contact with in our lives.