Yesterday’s devotional reading was about the scarcity of “fullness” in the lives of most Christians. Instead of being “enlarged” by difficulties, many become impoverished. This is not God’s intention or desire. Trials are supposed to perfect us, not send us backward.
My husband’s head cold bit me last night. I went to bed with stuffed sinuses, headache, sore throat, and “Oh, no” because tomorrow morning I leave on my annual holiday in Canmore at the Canadian Rockies Quilt Art Conference.
This morning, fortified with Nin Jiom® (herbal, the best cough/cold remedy, and Cold FX®that is proven to relieve and shorten colds — this sounds like a commercial), and before I opened my Bible, I thought that God could have a purpose in allowing this. Could He be testing to see if I will allow a simple cold to “enlarge” me? I know the misery I feel could easily turn my eyes off Him and unto poor me. So could the quilt conference for that matter.
Today, He takes me to Revelation 21 and a description of the new heavens and new earth where there will be “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.” Funny how the dullness of a head cold can make those thoughts very appealing. However, it was this verse that speaks to me today, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
This is the promise of God, the eternal One who accomplished our full salvation, and about the full satisfaction of heaven, but there is a present truth in this promise. During His ministry on earth, Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Isaiah said it too, “‘Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid, for YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’ Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” and again, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground . . . .”
God will bless anyone who thirsts for Him. That is what He wants from me, not a thirst for my cold to vanish, or a good time in Canmore, or even that I am “enlarged” by both experiences. He wants me to just want Him, and He will satisfy that desire.
But He surprises me too. My husband planned a golf trip while I’m away, so our granddaughter was supposed to stay at her mother’s, but some issues came up and we thought of other options. One of them is that she goes to Canmore with me. The Holy Spirit said yes, I say yes, my husband and daughter say yes, and so did the grandchild. I’m in classes all day and she is free to roam this lovely setting and hopefully to see the hand of the Creator. (She is old enough to be alone, but we are not yet sure she would be safe.)
As I’ve been thinking about my head cold, this change of plans, and the above promise that He will satisfy the thirsty heart, those verses took me to a place in Isaiah that God has used many, many times to assure me about my family. I never plan it, He just has me in Isaiah 44 every now and then. And it always surprises me, because, even though the words are for Israel, by them God says to me, “This is who I am and what I can do. Take comfort.”
After the part that says, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground,” God says, “I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses. One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.”
I’ve no idea what this trip will mean. We have several hours driving, and several days sharing a room and meals. What I want is His Spirit poured out on this child, and on me too, but even as I write it, He reminds me that I am simply to thirst after Him.
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