14 September 2007
There was originally another topic planned for this edition of Pure Refreshment. It has sat on my desk at home, unfinished, for the last two weeks. You will get to read that edition in due time, but something more important has come up instead that needs to be shared.
A number of months back, I noticed that what was originally planned as a biweekly reflection had became less frequent in nature. I mentioned this at the beginning of one PR edition this year, striving to make a more consistent effort to keep up.
Today's edition comes to you with over a month's delay. Why?
As I agonized over this during the last few weeks, I became more and more stressed. It turns out the answer was obvious to me, yet I didn't want to admit that it was the case.
Simply put, the well had run dry.
Now when I say that, I'm not necessarily referring to a lack of ideas, a lack of time, or even a lack of consistency in the faith I claim in Jesus. However, I think a little bit of each of these has played a role. Yet as much as I could turn this edition into some sort of confessional, I don't want to do that. Because all of us need to take a good look at our own wells and see what's inside.
Life moves fast, as you probably know. Despite this knowledge, many of us try to fill our waking hours with every imaginable activity available. This can trickle down to our children, who can be made to feel like they're on schedules even more hectic than ours. In the midst of meetings, soccer practices, social outings, and perhaps church functions, God can get pushed out of the way. If we let this happen for too long, something changes in our lives.
It's not that God has suddenly moved aside, since he eagerly desires that we spend time getting to know him better and become more like him in our words, deeds, and thoughts. Instead, we've done the moving—and suddenly God's off the throne of our heart. He doesn't like anything less than first place and will try to get our attention to remind us how far we've fallen. The car breakdowns, illnesses, and tight financial situations we sometimes experience may be his way of saying to us, "Hey! Put me back where I belong." Hopefully, we respond as he desires and return to a true life of faith.
Sometimes we do. But sometimes we try other options:
- We give up on God and continue to do things as we see fit.
This leads (if unchecked) to a reliance on ourselves, with God left outside, looking in. Sadly, some people close their door to him, only opening it in times of sheer desperation, or (even worse) lock it permanently.
- We use our past experiences of lessons from God exclusively.
Without a consistent focus on God and desire to allow him control of our lives, we can easily rely on our prior knowledge of him and our past faith experiences to help us get by. The question becomes: does this actually work?
It can—for a time.
The easiest way to show what will eventually happen is to consider a well filled with water. The situations of life require that we use a bucket and draw from what God has taught us. If we take time to pray, read the Bible, and listen to God's voice, we'll have fresh water to add to our well. If we keep drawing without replenishing, the water level will drop and will eventually be used up. When this happens, we have to make a decision about who's really in control of our life—us or our Creator.
In my case, the level of water in my well had become drastically low, causing a scarcity of topics to write about (hence the delay in Pure Refreshment). I've learned the hard way that relying on past knowledge of a living God doesn't work too well. Friendships don't work that way; why should we expect anything different with God?
The best part about all of this is that all hope is not lost. We can unlock the door and let God back in. We can sit, take his yoke (see Matthew 11:28-30), and learn from him, finding rest for our weary souls. We can enjoy a life of faith where our Creator walks with us, where every day is an exciting adventure, where our well is full even as we draw from it and use it to encourage, challenge, and invite others to see what a vibrant life with Jesus is all about.
So then, please forgive me for not sharing from what should be in my well but hasn't been. And know that the well will be filled again, with editions of PR coming on a consistent basis (that 'mystery' edition will arrive soon).
Until then, think about the well God has given you. And as you allow him to fill and refresh you today and this week, may you in turn refresh others.
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"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
--John 4:13 (NIV)
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."
--Oswald Chambers
