Sunshine.

No rain.

Not just dry.

Parched.

I don’t know about where you live, but for the last two months we have had sunny skies and hot temps every day.

Oh the skies have been a beautiful blue and the sun has glistened off nearby waters. But water from the sky has been non-existent.

I am one who loves sunshine and warm temps, but even I have longed for some clouds and precipitation and relief from the oppressive heat.

A good “rainy day and Monday” wouldn’t get me down…I would be singing and dancing in the streets!

The ground has been so parched that there are places around our neighborhood where the earth is sinking and the borders of the lakes are creeping further back from the brittle grassy edges.

Foundations are cracking as thirsty trees draw the moisture from underneath through their spreading roots.

Plants and flowers, once flourishing, reach to the sky hoping for a drop only to droop in the unfilled longing.

Then one day, not long ago, it happened.

It came down and the parched ground soaked it up.

A puddle or two remained.

The plants and the ground said “ah,” and so did I.

A reprieve in the midst of the heat and sunbaked earth.

We have returned to our “no rain” pattern, but that day we were reminded of the “sure hope” of a wetter season that would return…eventually.

So many times we take rain and our need for it for granted. We may even mutter about a wet weather pattern interrupting our plans, not mindful of how much of a gift it is (apart from times of flooding).

As I considered these things, I began to realize that all I am witnessing is a reminder of the soul’s true longing, even if unrecognized.

Often times we find ourselves spiritually dry and in need!

A thirst for the Lord!

A thirst for His very words.

A thirst for the truth that is necessary in our time yet many seek to avoid it.

We fill our time with trivialities.

We fill our minds with information and knowledge and empty man made philosophies but not wisdom.

We fill our minds and our eyes with that which “seems right” to us but in the end leads to death: physically, spiritually, relationally.

We fill our souls with our emotions and how we feel about life and circumstances more than what is true and fail to take those thoughts and emotions captive.

But apart from a fear of the Lord and the truth found only in His Word, we never find truth. We never find wisdom. We never find life.

Apart from surrender to the One who restores, we wrestle without end.

We never find true joy.

We never find rest.

We never find purpose.

We never find refreshment.

We remain parched.

We are dry.

While recreation and some “frivolities” are not necessarily wrong or even bad in right balance, quick fixes of pleasure can overtake us and become what we live for rather than a sidebar.

Sometimes it is sin for a season.

Sometimes it is busyness that “robs” us of time.

Sometimes it is fear or worry that takes away our peace.

Sometimes it is hurt from another that draws out our dryness.

Sometimes it is good things made ultimate things.

But the Lord, in His grace and mercy, calls us to His rest, to Himself, to that which will bring Him glory, cause us to seek and do good to others, build our closest relationships, and ultimately truly refreshes and strengthens our souls.

Sometimes it will mean repentance before God and maybe even before someone we have hurt.

“Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” (Acts 19-20)

Sometimes it will mean intentionally making time to get away, alone before the Lord, and be still…to know that He is God and that He will be exalted regardless of what what we see. (Psalm 46:10)

Sometimes it will mean that, in believing, seeking, and trusting the Lord, we will seek pleasures that are not centered on ourselves but increase our love for others and give glory to God.

“Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:28)

We live in a “dry and weary land where there is no water” both literally and figuratively, but our God is able.

Just as He is able to turn a river into dry land so He is able to pour out the rain on the dry ground and cause it to flourish.

Even more delightful and precious is that He is able and does pour out His Spirit on a dry and thirsty soul and bring life and breath and hope and joy, His presence, even in our desert times.

“God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.“ (Isaiah 44:3)

Sometimes we have to cease the noise, the images, and the voices and revel in what is true, honorable, just, whatever is pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy  (Philippians 4:8), where refreshment is found.

The rain will come in time.

Likely we will have a lot of it in the coming days, and we will rejoice and be glad as the clouds gather then open on a land and people who have long awaited the refreshment with arms wide open!

I hope I don’t forget this moment, the longing so that I will remember to be thankful when it comes down for days without end.

But for now, I want to look at the cracked ground, the thirsty leaves, the brittle grass and be reminded that my soul is like that apart from my God.

I want to be reminded that, as my soul is watered by the Giver of all good gifts even in the dry, I am filled.

I want to be reminded that those things that weigh on my mind and heart don’t have to lead to a parched soul but to the very One who revives me, to “the Rock that is higher than I!” (Psalm 61:2)

As I close, I’m reminded of some lyrics from an old Michael Card song.

In this day, let us seek to water our hearts, our minds, our souls with that which will satisfy and run to His Light in the darkness.

Let us be the ones used to do the same for others – to share the Living Water who is Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of those who call on Him in spirit and in truth; to those who have yet to hear, yet to know.

“There’ll come a time, the prophets would say
When the joy of mankind will be withered away
A want not for water, but a hunger for more
A famine for hearing the Word of the Lord.

So many books, so little time, so many hunger, so many blind
Starving for words, they must wait in the night
To open a Bible and move towards the Light!”

(Michael Card, So Many Books)