In A Dry And Waterless Place

We love it when the water of life is flowing freely through us,’ when praise flows and prayer is just a sheer joy. But how do we cope when, for either a short or a long time, our ‘water levels’ seem to recede and, like David, we find ourselves in a dry and waterless place; when seeking the Lord feels dull, and our circumstances so cramping and constricting that it feels as though all the life is being squeezed out of us. At times like these, we are more aware of the Lord’s absence than His presence, and even the thought of finding our joy in the Lord, and ‘riding in triumph on the heights of the land,’ as Isaiah puts it, seems a remote prospect. (cf Is. 58:14) In this waterless wilderness, a place of inner strife as well as outward hunger, thirsty and exhausted, David reached out beyond his own plight and deliberately ‘hooked’ himself into the Lord’s goodness by meditating on Him and clinging to Him, remembering all the help He had sent from His sanctuary. When we choose praise over despair, our worship becomes the crook that keeps us looking to the Shepherd. Our confidence grows as we remember how He has led and watched over us in the past, however far away He may feel now. Praise glorifies the Lord and is such an offence in the devil’s nostrils that it messes up his snares. Praise You, Father God. Nothing and no one else can ever satisfy my soul. No one else can deliver me over and over again from all that threatens and hangs over me. You have invited me to feast and drink at Your table – and there is such deep companionship there. But right now, I am so parched for You that my tongue and my body are black in the searing dryness. Keep me from slaking my thirst on things that fritter the time away and merely serve to fuel the desires of my flesh. I want to cultivate the minutes to seek You, Lord, and to escape the downward pull of my fears, the disquieting thoughts that make me focus on the dangers. Wrap yourself in light, Lord God. Show Yourself greater than these pressures. Come in the gentleness of Your presence, in signs and visions that impart the stirrings of fresh hope, and bring whispers of Your love, for it is those who hunger and thirst to be right with You who You promise to bless.