“You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water.” Psalm 65:9
I’ve been feeling dry for a while. Now, you need to understand that originally when I first became a pastor, I never intended to preach every Sunday, but more like 2-3 times a month. I envisioned being on a ministry team, and indeed was for a while, which means sharing the responsibility of lots of things, including preaching. I now preach 4-6 times a month, sometimes more. And lately, please forgive me, when I sit down to work on the next message, I can feel like I have nothing more to say. It feels the well has gone dry.
If you happen to worship in the same congregation that I do, don’t panic. I am old enough (notice I did not say wise enough) to know that God does not give us what we expect, but often calls us to do things for the sake of the world God loves so much which are beyond our comfort zones. Don’t believe me? Check out stories of our spiritual ancestors: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, the disciples, even Jesus praying in Gethsemane the night he was arrested. none of them felt like they had the wherewithal to do what God was calling them to do.
This photo is God’s word to me. It is a visual promise to me of what Jesus once said: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:36-37) If I were to stand under that downpour in the valley, it would be chilling, drenching and uncomfortable. And yet I know first hand how this thundershower watered a ground grown dusty dry from too many weeks with no water. The very shower that caused us hikers discomfort was life-giving for the Shenandoah. And now? I may be dry, but God is not. Our baptism comes with a promise: that Christ’s Spirit visits us and pours upon us the water we need to do the task given to us, whether it is caring for a sick child through the night or volunteering at a homeless shelter, in order to care for the world with the love of Christ.
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? Tell about a time when you were “dry” and God watered you for some task.
2. Or read all of Psalm 65 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm or to discover a different verse.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse is from Psalm 66:5.
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
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