Surviving the drought – Devotion for
My grass is brown. No, I’m not too disappointed about it, because when it is brown that means it is not growing, and when it is not growing that means I don’t have to mow it. The thing is it just really looks brown because my neighbor waters her yard (on the days that she is allowed to by the city). So there is a very defined line between my yard and hers – the line where green grass turns to brown grass. I’ll just keep on waiting for it to rain, because I know that sooner or later it will rain. In fact, it rained a bit yesterday morning, and I feel that I can see some benefits in the yard already. So, I will not even attempt to water my yard – I’ll just keep waiting for God to bring the rain. Surely He’ll bring the rain again soon.
This morning as I left my yard, it kind of struck me that sometimes we live our spiritual lives like this. We keep waiting and waiting for God to come into our lives to do something special or amazing that will really lift us up – and sometimes we find ourselves just waiting and waiting while we keep on drying up. I’ve had those dry spells where I just pray to God to come and show me the way, to shine His light before me to direct my paths, but other than just a prayer I don’t do anything else to seek God – I just keep waiting through the drought. Psalm 1 is talking about what it is like for the one who walks in the light and law of God: “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicker are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.” (Psalm 1:3-4) When I read that I think about my neighbor’s yard, and my yard. My neighbor’s yard has survived this brutally hot and dry summer, and is just as beautifully green now as it was in the spring. My yard is like chaff – as my boys run through the yard you can see the dead grass just flying up as they go. So it is also when we daily seek out the source of life, and when we just simply wait for that source to come to us. God will come, but we can’t just keep waiting for those “mountain top” experiences – we’ve got to actively pursue God daily – pursuing His word, pursuing His will, pursuing His love, pursuing His people, pursuing His “water.” Today, if you find yourself in one of those droughts, and you find your life has started to simply turn as brown as my yard, seek out the source of life. Make it a part of your daily habits. Don’t just wait for God to come in some unique and special way to you (even though He eventually will). Seek out His water today, and tomorrow, and the day after that . . .
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