The Spring


Ever feel marginalized? Treated as insignificant, or circumstances out of your control have made it seem as if you’re on the outside looking in? In some cases, maybe you’re on the inside looking out!


Sometimes we can make a change, but sometimes we are truly stuck. And to get unstuck, we are depending on Jehovah Mefalti (the Lord our Deliverer), or Jehovah Jireh (the Lord our Provider), and always Jehovah Ezer (the Lord our Helper). If you’re promised something (that deliverance maybe), yet nothing changes, and you watch as change is happening for others around you… Well, a specific story comes to mind.

 

In John 6:5-13, from five small barley loaves and two small fish, Jesus fed a crowd of five thousand as the food miraculously multiplied until all were full. Then he instructed his disciples to gather up the leftovers so that nothing was lost. They filled twelve baskets with leftovers! The point is, God gives plentifully and nothing is ever wasted. If he does this with loaves and fish to satisfy his people, how much more of his people will not be lost? Even things we think are a waste in our lives or have come to nil. They will become something useful, valuable, because we are valuable. More valuable than a helping of carbs, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids—as welcome as that kind of nourishment is to hungry bodies. We, his children, are the apple of his eye. High purposes and joy are ours. Where we get mixed up sometimes is in our timing/patience.


If you have ever felt like a micro-island of eroding sand, watching the various watercraft pass you by for their places to go and people to see, and you feel forgotten, isolated, stranded, stuck in stagnation. Just remember that Jesus is the central Spring of Living Water, the source from which to draw your strength. Like with the loaves and fish, the Spring gives plentifully; in fact, it never runs dry, and nothing is ever wasted. So repeat those trips to the water for those refills to keep believing, keep hoping.

 

Parched? Stuck? On the sidelines?

 

The Spring! The Spring! The Spring!

 

Still.

 

Always.

 

All things bloom in his time, my friend.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Can’t Shake the Feeling…

Image
I can’t shake the feeling that somebody’s waiting on me. Although, I believe in my sphere I’ve dotted all the i's and crossed the t's, and nobody I’ve met or personally know of is waiting on me for anything. Yet, in my spirit, it feels like someone is waiting on me, or for me, for… well, something. I wonder if this is how God feels, since everybody he knows—which is everybody—is waiting on him to do something, pull strings for them, or perform a miracle. We are needy people. But God is God, so among all the wonderful attributes about him, he’s omni-patient. That means having endless patience and the ability to endure all things. It says in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Yes, he gives humanity time to turn to him, but the scripture also suggests that as people we might feel like he’s slow or neglectful. I mean, come on already,...
Read more

A Little Something About Animals (From a Biblical Perspective)

Image
While in a small group setting, several years back, a conversation turned to Noah’s Ark with the focus on human behavior and how humanity was eventually saved. Since we were also among horses, I casually mentioned how important animals are to God because look at what he instructed Noah to build for the sake of the animals and to repopulate the earth. The ark was estimated to be well over 500 feet long, close to 90 feet wide, and approximately 50 feet high. Some say it was close to the size of a football field and had the capacity to accommodate two of every kind of land animal…. or, from another perspective, at least 113,000 of one kind.   This immense size and purpose for saving the animals he created. Wow. Of course, with humans he reserved for the best, but he was sorely disappointed in this part of his creation, because we’d proven to be such willful and sinful creatures, and he wanted to start over. A fresh slate. With the animals.   Among our group, a couple said...
Read more

To the Socially Awkward: It’s Okay!

Image
You step away from a conversation, inwardly cringe, and think: “Ach, I shouldn’t have said that.” Later that night, as you lie awake dwelling on something better you could’ve— should’ve —said, it dawns on you that you just might be socially awkward. If not all the time, then maybe once or twice in life you’ve imagined a better verbal comeback or healthier line of encouragement after the fact. I’d had a week of those kinds of interactions. Although I’m naturally a reclusive introvert, I’ve learned to get along when I must. I don’t hate people; in fact, I love people how God has commanded us to. People are interesting. It’s just that I’m more of a thinker and observer. When I feel the need to say something, I prefer to spend time pondering it first. Anything abrupt isn’t usually my mojo; I don’t have the gift of gab. A one-on-one is great, or with a few I know well, and I can be quite talkative then. But add a few more or a group setting—especially among people I hardly know—and I can ...
Read more