A Dry and Parched Land

Psalm 63:1-8  

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; 
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

It's summertime, and often during these warm months we have longer stretches with no rain.  After a particularly warm week this week with temperatures in the 90's and no rain, everything was very dry.  The grass was crunchy underfoot and the plants were wilting for lack of water.  We spent many hours watering our garden to keep everything alive.

When the kids were walking in the neighborhood, they happened to find a beautiful yellow swallowtail butterfly, just resting on the ground.  They picked it up to bring home and show Eva, our butterfly lover.  Clearly it was dying, though it looked absolutely perfect.  She could not grasp how something so beautiful could come and go so quickly from this earth.  Why did it have to die?  In spite of her efforts to gently place in on flower after flower where it could eat, it was all to no avail.  I gently hugged her and looked into her face.  "It's sad that butterflies only live for a few weeks, isn't it?  But that's how God created them and that's why they lay so many hundreds of eggs, so there will be more butterflies for us to enjoy."

As I watched the kids playing in the yard that night, my heart was heavy.  Just like Eva's grief over that butterfly, we all experience grief over the brevity of life.  We see Creation, in all its intended perfection and simultaneously experience the dissonance of death and loss in the midst of it.  Our souls LONG for peace, for hope, for God to draw near.

I recently read a passage from Katie Davis Majors' book "Safe all Along," that said this, 

"The psalmist here (in Psalm 13) both acknowledges his excruciating pain and trusts the good and loving character of God.  Friend, grief doesn't exclude joy.  Both exist together.  God is faithful and life is difficult.  Life is beautiful and worthy of celebration, and it is also hard and worthy of lament.  And acknowledging both realities leads us to His feet."

If you find yourself walking through that dry land with no water, remember to seek God who is the "Fountain of Life."

Ps 36:9 "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light."

When the night is very dark, and you feel like you've lost your way, remember to watch for Him...

Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?"

We can sing because HE IS OUR HELP

We cling to Him and HIS RIGHT HAND UPHOLDS US.

Dear God, I have longed for so many things...but I ask that You would help me to long  for You.  In this dry and parched land where there is no water, give me life abundant.  Help me to remember that "the joy of the Lord is my strength."  Give me Your peace that passes all understanding, and a hope that endures.  By your Spirit, strengthen me to walk through the valley of the shadow of death...and not be afraid.  I am weak, and weary, and so thirsty Lord.  Help me to thirst for You and more of You.  I thank you, God, for all that You have done for me.  You have saved me, redeemed me, shown me grace and mercy that I do not deserve.  I cling to you,  Amen.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Seeing Clearly

 Psalm 18; 28

"You, Lord, keep my lamp burning: my God turns my darkness into light."

Over the past several weeks we've been dealing with air quality issues in Pittsburgh.  Smoke from many Canadian wildfires has been drifting down into our area and the visual impact has been pretty incredible at times.  Last week on the worst day so far, we were able to look almost directly at the sun at a time of evening when it normally would have been totally blinding.  

I was thinking of this more as the very next day, a storm front blew through, taking all the smoke away with it.  The sky was blue again, the smell of the smoke was gone.  Everything was back to normal again, as it should be.

Life has a way of getting cluttered with so many things, so quickly.  I find myself losing sight of the truly important things over and over again.  I can't see through the smoke screen of the things I think I should be doing.  Social media and technology seem to only contribute to this never ending cycle.  We see what everyone else is doing and think we need to keep up, catch up, or do better.  We are on an endless quest for "the best."

At church on Sunday, the pastor spoke about being weary...oh how I have felt that weariness!  But Jesus is the answer to all of our needs.  He gives us water that truly quenches our thirst.  He clears our eyes so we can see, once and for all, all that is real and all He has to offer us.  

Jesus paid the price for our sins, once and for all.  He died so that we can live freely, abundantly, hopefully and in right standing with God.  All we must do is believe.  And God gives us His Spirit to help us every step of the way.  

There is a C. S. Lewis quote that I love.  It says, 

"I believe in Christ as I believe that the sun has risen; not because I can see it, but because by it I see everything else."

God, give us eyes to see You, in all of Your glory, today.  Help us to recognize all that You have done for us and continue to do for us.  Help us not to get caught up in things that have no meaning or purpose.  Help us to see clearly, to see You, to see that You are all we need.