The Pun
The Prayer
This morning I woke up aching. Symptoms have persisted for several weeks and not been quelled. I feel limited, exhausted.
Then, I come into the office with a cup of coffee made from beans brought to me by an old friend from my favorite roaster who lives over an hour away. I'm eating blueberry muffins given by an even older friend during our visit over the weekend. And then I get a text that a generous gift has been given by a relative to help toward funding our children's schooling.
I suffer in constant need and survive under constant graces. My desire is to be independent, self sustaining. Afraid that grace may dry up, this feels like it would be safety. But scripture describes it differently.
Adam was created with a stomach and placed in a garden of fruit. He was created lonely, it wasn't good, but then a woman was made for him. He was created thirsty and placed in a land gushing with streams. We were created in need and made to be dependent upon the constant gushing grace of God.
The blessed life is not about being an independent pond. Rather,
"How blessed is the man who ... is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3).
Psalm 46 speaks of a secure city assailed yet secured inside. Crucial to its stability is the water supply.
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.” (Psalm 46:4-6)
An ancient city under siege was in great danger if it did not have its own water supply. Without life giving liquid, the defending inhabitants would eventually die of thirst or hunger. The city of Jerusalem was blessed by the fact that it was built on a mount underneath which gushed the spring of Gihon. Under one siege, King Hezekiah built a tunnel to redirect its flow into the city toward what became the Pool of Siloam (2 Chronicles 32:30). This pool supplied the city under attack and was later the pool to which Jesus directed a blind man to wash his eyes and find sight (John 9:7).
And one day we will enter a heavenly city. Ezekiel prophesied of it in advance, describing it as having an ever deepening stream giving life to creatures of the water, plant life surrounding it, spreading throughout the world and giving life to all humanity (Ezekiel 47:1-12). In Revelation, we find that this river bursts forth from the throne of God:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, 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.” (Revelation 22:1-3)
This life giving spring is something we cannot find on our own. In heaven, we are lead by the Lamb to these springs. Yet even there in heaven, the tears exist. Only now they will be wiped away.
"For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:17)
Assurance and stability are not the result of being self sufficient nor of escaping to a place absent of trouble. We were not constructed to be so strong and the place without trouble is still being prepared. No, real peace and security are not found in the absence of needs but rather in the presence of the One who fulfills them.
And now I get a text that our cat got into a fight that nearly severed his tail. Another need. Another vet bill.
Back to the river.