Streams in the Desert

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STREAMS IN THE DESERT
DAY 4: 7/11/19
Water is an essential commodity for the existence and survival of life. We cannot live without it, but the abundance of it can be dangerous. For example, the lack of rain could cause drought; on the other hand, torrential rains could cause flash floods. In 1984, our small town in India was inundated with excessive rains causing flash floods. The flood water made the streets impassable and homes unlivable. My family, along with a few other families, had no other choice other than to move up to a penthouse on the roof of their building.
They stayed up there like in the times of Noah until the flood waters receded. Later, my mother told me, that she saw all around their building huts and mud houses were collapsing. In spite of several warnings to leave that building, my family chose to remain up there trusting that God would protect them! And indeed, God our good shepherd had protected them.
What a shepherd truly desires while tending his sheep in the desert is not so much rain but still, waters that follow after the storm. That is where he leads his sheep to quench their thirst. Similarly, for those of us living in a spiritual desert, we need still waters from God, as he is the only one who is capable to make streams flow in a desert. (Isaiah 43:19)
On this 4th day of my journey, I realize that I am a sheep and a shepherd at the same time. As a sheep, I would instead drink from the brook of God’s living water and live than to get swept away by the floods and the torrents of this world. As a shepherd of my flock, I realize my responsibility to is to lead my congregation to God, who is the source of the living water.
When God is so eagerly and readily offers still water from His fountain of life, we humans tend to drink from the cesspool of this world. Whatever God offers to us is fresh and life-giving, on the contrary, everything that the world offers to us is evil and deadly. According to I John 2:15-16, we as the followers of the good shepherd we are urged not to love the world. “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from this world.�
Unfortunately, then and now people would instead run after what this world could offer than come to the one who says, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.� Isaiah 55:1-2
I wonder what God would say to our generation that is bent on turning their backs on God and follow after everything that this world has to offer? Have we forsaken the spring of living water and have dug our own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water? Lord Jesus, you are my good shepherd, and you are offering me to drink from the living water that could quench my soul’s thirst, “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.� I pray that you, the source of the living water would flow through me and bring life to all those who are around me.
While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks: Streams in the Desert Day 4, Pages 41-45
Francis Balla (D. Min) Student ID 163124