Are You Building a Dam?

We have been in a dry spell here in Arkansas. Although we have had plenty of water most of the summer, it started drying up in August and it’s continuing. There are pockets of rain arriving here and there, but for us it’s certainly not enough. The grass is curling up and the flowers are wilting. Birds are coming to the birdbath looking for a reprieve. As I walk to the mailbox I hear a distinct crunch beneath my feet. I also noticed that there’s a “trail” now to the mailbox across what was once lush turf. We are getting rain this morning across much of our state, but who knows if it will be enough?

Water rights have been fought over throughout history. Several very good westerns have a theme of water. Most of the time war comes because some rancher dams up the river on his land.  There is one of two reasons why it happens. Either the rancher needs the water or he’s just selfish and wants it all for himself. The latter is usually a vendetta or revenge for some alleged trouble the rancher down river caused.  These water “rights” make for much trouble and mayhem. People have died over water. 

Maybe you’ve found yourself in a dry spell. You knew there was plenty of water, but now it just seems so dry. You feel you’ve been cut off from the river and you can’t get refreshed. You were busy working and doing your chores, tending your flock, fixing your fences, repairing your house and taking care of your family.  In the midst of all the good you were doing you realized you were dying of thirst. You’re thinking about other folks who seem to be flowing and refreshed with their own water and you want some for yourself. You’ve got to find a way to get some water for yourself. You can either attempt to dam up the flow in others’ lives or you can find your own source to sustain you. If you choose to go after another’s water you will have to face the consequences of taking something that is not yours to take. If you seek after your own source, you may find yourself still worn out and thirsty from digging your own well and finding precious little water there.

Or you can go to the One who is the Source of all the living water you will ever need! He has enough for you and your family, your friends, your loved ones, your church, your town, your county, your state and your nation! He has enough for those you love and care about and even for those you do not know, the strangers you meet. His desire is that you give so freely of the life giving water that even those you do not care so much for can have plenty as well.   

What are you going to do? Are you going to dam up the life giving water or are you going to just let it flow? Have you received the water of life for yourself? And are you willing to share that water with  everyone you meet? Are you going to go on with God? Are you going to be able to sleep at night with the decisions and choices you make? Will you, when you are all alone, say with confidence, I’ve done that which pleases the Lord? If you have then you will make it. You will more than make it. You will shine.  

Oh beloved, God knows the circumstances that brought you to the dry spell. He knows why the flow has slowed to a trickle. He knows you’ve done rain dances and put yourself through hoops trying to get more water.  But He says to you this morning – it’s time to lay down your carnal weapons of fighting for your rights. You don’t own the rights to My life giving water – it’s been giving to you freely by unmerited grace and favor. It’s time to let Me flow through your entire being and refresh everything that’s dry in your life. It’s time to let Me completely overtake you with My living water, so that you never get in such a dry spell again. And then when I have refreshed you, I will send you out to refresh others. I AM the Lord and I own the cattle on a thousand hills, I make the dew to fall, I give the water in the clouds and I made the rivers and named them all. Everywhere you look belongs to Me and I will give you everything you need in just the right time. Rest in Me. Let me make you a channel of blessing instead of a cistern. Everything I give you is for your blessing and to go on and bless others.

The only requirement is that you acknowledge that I AM who I say I AM. And that you humble yourself to realize that I AM the one who gives the living water, the water that no man can take away from you. This same water is enough, more than enough to sustain you, to refresh you, to give you a ministry of reconciliation in a dry and thirsty land. You don’t have to dam it up, store it up or hide it. Those things will dry it up. You just have to abide in Me and let Me flow through you. 

Oh how God loves you! Oh how He cares for you! Rejoice, that evening in the dry days you can live in Seasons of Refreshing and have plenty left over to share with others who come looking for refreshment!

 John 7:38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’

Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.

Isaiah 41:17  The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 68:9 You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.