#Living Water in Desert Times

When I was 18 years-old, I signed up to work with a group in Yellowstone National Park.  We were to work in various areas of the park in various jobs, either housekeeping or food service, and offer Bible studies.  It just so happened that I was assigned to work at Yellowstone Lake.  Having grown up in Montana, I was accustomed to the beauty of the mountains, but living at the lake that summer was such a serene and awe-inspiring experience.  In addition to the hiking almost daily, I spent time every day sitting by this vast body of water, surrounded by mountains, journaling and praying.  Now, more than 25 years later, my family and I visit the lake at least twice a year.  Our kids grew up throwing rocks into the Yellowstone River and tracking its location all over the state, so they appreciate the reach this mountain lake has, feeding such an influential river, hundreds of miles from its source.

This past weekend, on a short visit there, my son asked me if Yellowstone Lake could ever dry up.  As we looked at the surrounding mountains with visible snow on them, even in the last days of June, my husband and I chuckled and responded that the likelihood was very low that it would ever run dry as some lakes have done, and I was reminded in this place of such beauty that, despite the chaos our world seems to be in, God’s mercy and providence are like this lake, both reliable and life-giving, not unpredictable like this ever-changing world full of unknown viruses, unrest, and well, sin in general. Like this lake, He is pure, calm and steady, not swayed by the craziness of the world below. 

Water is such a precious commodity these days.  We are constantly told to conserve and protect it.  While we consider water a modern problem due to population growth and changes in the weather patterns, the Bible is also filled with scenarios and metaphors concerning water.  It makes sense-where there is water, there is life.  Where there is not water . . . While there are many verses about God providing water miraculously such as:

“Because I have given waters in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert,

To give drink to My chosen people” (Isaiah 43:20)

And “You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts” (2 Kings 3:17).

Water is also a symbol of God’s salvation and spiritual provision for believers.  When Jesus speaks at the Feast of the Tabernacles, he says, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38).  To the woman at the well, he offers “living water” (John 4:10). 

I won’t lie. Right now, I wish I could hide out at Yellowstone Lake, gazing at it’s massive and pure waters, forgetting about an uncertain year ahead, but many in our world are not feeling serene right now. They are struggling with fear, anxiety, and let’s face it, anger.  Lord, help me to remember and speak of God’s sovereignty and provision in these times, bountiful and life-giving, unaffected by the chaos around us.  Help me take comfort in you alone, for it is you who can “(change) a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water” (Psalm 107:35).