My sister is living on an island in the Caribbean
which I will not name for privacy reasons.
Anyway, they are experiencing a severe drought and this has affected the
water supply and the people who rely on water for their needs. Today she told me about an unexpected side
effect of drought that I’ve never heard of before. Dangerous water and food.
She was speaking to a doctor about a
party she threw and telling the doctor how they all went swimming in this local
area and the doctor looked at her like she was a moron- her words not
mine. “Don’t you know how bad the water
is in these drought conditions? It is
filled with contaminants which could make you sick.” A friend of hers is in the hospital after his
liver shut down possibly because he ate some bad salad or drank bad water. Now, I haven’t read up on any of this, but if
it’s true, how scary to think you could get hepatitis, organ failure or other
problems, as if the drought itself wasn’t bad enough. Some droughts and famines are spiritual:
…not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: Am. 8:11 (all KJV)
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where
no water is; Ps. 63:1
So that issue
got me thinking about how Christians sometimes see themselves in dry times,
like a drought of spirituality. Nothing
seems to be happening… Most Christians
I’ve talked to agree they’ve been in dry times.
Now, I don’t want to write about why they happen, but God has allowed
physical droughts in the past for His reasons “And I called for a drought upon
the land…” (Hg. 1:11) so could He not allow spiritual ones? What I want us to consider is being careful
of the toxicity of food and water that is around us. And remember, He is still there even when we
don’t feel Him near.
(God said) I did
know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. Hs. 13:5
It’s not an intentional
thing. None of us would drink, eat or
play in something we knew was dangerous, but in a drought where the Word seems
to not revitalize, we don’t hear the Lord’s voice, we are distant from Him for
whatever reason, then we may not realize the dangers. It is then we must take extra care. The waters may feel good, refreshing, but they
could bring infections. That salad may
look good and taste good, but could contain contaminants that harm us.
Go only to the source of all
fulfillments of our appetites. Check all
other sources against these. Don’t
assume what you hear or read is true based on who the speaker or writer is
because they ARE human and all humans make mistakes. Check it out for yourself. Make sure it lines up with all of Scripture,
not just the verses they give you. God
the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are the only source that never errs so their
Word can be counted on to verify all things.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. Jh. 4:14
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Jh. 7:37, 38
But he answered and said, It
is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Mt. 4:4
For the bread of God is he
(Jesus) which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. … And Jesus said unto them, I
am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. Jh. 6:33,35
So take care if you are in a dry time
right now. Remember He who is
trustworthy and who always has your best interests at heart. Trust Him.
Know He is the One who can bring water out of rock (Ex. 17:6) and in dry
places (Is. 41:18; 44:3). He is the only
One who can satisfy our soul, and help us grow strong, with strong roots that
will withstand in dry times.
Blessed is the
man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a
tree planted by the waters, and that
spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but
her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Jr. 17:7,8
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Is. 58:11