Your Spiritual Workout
aren't thirsty for the shallow things in life. We just want peace in our hearts and homes. We just want the bare necessities. All we're thirsting for is peace with God, meaningful lives, happy households, and good health. However, we still end up in dry valleys. Relationships at home get strained. Employers make cuts causing unexpected wage losses. Aging children bring new challenges. Break ups, fallouts, hardships, loss- none of us are exempt. We'll all travel through valleys in life and some of those valleys will be dry and we will be thirsty. What do we do? Let's look at a bible account that is similar. There were three kings that faced a literal dry valley. (2 Kings) They were out on a mission, just like many of us, trying to take care of some business. It was a serious financial matter that needed their attention because if it was not dealt with, it would cause financial hardship. Well, during the course of handling their business they ended up in a valley with no water for themselves or their cattle. Unlike present day America where water is plentiful, this could mean death. Their first conclusion was that the Lord had led them this way to hand them over to their enemies. Thankfully one of the kings decided to seek out a prophet to see what the Lord might say. They found the prophet Elisha and here's what the Lord said, "I will fill this valley with pools of water...and you will drink...and your cattle." (2Kings 3:16-17) This account in history encourages me because it resembles life in present times. We go about life just trying to handle business and hard times can just blindside us. Our children, health, finances, and family can suddenly come under fire. At times the amount of stress we deal with seems insurmountable. There are times when it seems like everything that can break is either breaking or broken. Life gets out of balance and it can start to feel like a dry valley. We can even feel like these three kings-God is not on our side. In addition, nothing in life waits until we can get things together. Trouble doesn't wait until we get our footing. The dry valleys don't exempt us from life's troubles. Those dry valleys can dry our souls out and bring about a thirst that needs quenching. All the while we wait on the Lord, hoping He'll change something and quench our thirst for peace. The temptation in these times is to feel like the Lord is against us. It can be tempting to just cut out and run another way to find other means for survival and quench our thirst. The beauty of this account is that at least one the kings thought to get wisdom from God. I've been one of the other two kings. I've been in dry places and started to prepare myself for a slow agonizing death until someone said, "Let's pray!" Sadly, somehow it didn't occur to me that in those times, I can call on the Lord. Well, thankfully one of the kings did. God's reply was promising and assured them that He was not their enemy. They weren't doomed to die. You may feel like you're in a dry valley now. It may feel like you're slowly losing that fire and joy inside you and that life has been too much for you to bear. You could feel surrounded by your enemy like these three kings. You could feel like you're about to lose everything. You wouldn't be the first person to be in God's grace and feel that way. You don't have to keep going on this way either. You can call on the Lord. These three kings didn't feel they had the connection to God and the truth is that in those days they depended on the prophets. Not just anyone could talk to God. That story has changed. Jesus Christ has opened the door for us all to come to God by faith in His righteousness. "That is, in Christ God was rejoining the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them..." (2 Cor. 5:19) This is the good news! We can call on the Lord because of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf. I understand if you feel like you can't. In that case, look for that prophet. Engage someone who has been walking with God and make it a point to develop a relationship with them. A church home is a good start. Just showing up in church is not the answer, though. Develop a relationship. God has someone that can help you hear what He is saying if this is all new to you. Eventually, you'll understand how to navigate your life by faith. Your thirst will be quenched and in times of dryness, you'll know what to do.
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Aaron ClarkLoving God and teaching others to do the same is my life's work. Archives
October 2018
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