In A Dry Land
Have you ever felt like you are going through a drought in your life, a dry period, where it seems as though life has become so mundane, so routine, so uneventful, like the heavens have closed their ears to your prayers? It is as if you are in a desert, a parched land, all alone. If you screamed no one would even hear you. You have to ask yourself, “Am I in a dry land because of my situation in the world, or my relationship with God”? Most likely it is because of your situation with God. Feeling discontent and even lonely can be because we have stepped away from God’s presence.King David felt this way when he wrote Psalm 42. It starts like this, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?”’
Also when he wrote Psalm 63, “God, You are my God; I shall be watching for You;
my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and exhausted land where there is no water.”
Sin separates us from God, and of course, if we do not spend time with God then once again, we are separated from Him. Maybe we have stopped going to church, or reading our Bible, or even praying. Then when we go through a crisis in our lives, and we need God we cannot find Him. If you find yourself alone without God Psalm 63:2-5 has some good advice. “So have I seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and glory. Because Your favor is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with fat and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”
There is nothing better than to begin praising the Lord, lifting up your hands in surrender to Him and bringing the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips.
It will set you free. It will be like a shower of blessings coming down upon you.
Psalm 51:17 says this, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
Psalm 42:2-8 continues, I remember these things and pour out my soul within me. For I used to go over with the multitude and walk them to the house of God, with a voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude celebrating a festival. “Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him for the help of His presence, my God. My soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me. The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.”
Remember what you once had with God and return to Him, He will receive you if you sincerely have that heart’s desire. But maybe you never knew God, so you never left God. Then you need to find Him.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says this, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
If you want to find God then you must go to the River of Living Water to find refreshing for your soul.
John 7:38 tells us this, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
When you have a relationship with God, there is no dry and parched land, only living water deep within you. When we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God, we find that we become satisfied within ourselves as Matthew 5:6 tells us,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.’
Today if you are in a dry land, if you have found yourself away from the River of Life, if you are alone, then remember as the Psalmist did in Psalm 63:6-8,
“When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand takes hold of me.”
God is a forgiving God as Psalm 86:4-5 tells us, “ Make the soul of Your servant joyful, for to You, Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.”
Isaiah 41:17-18 says this, “The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them Myself; as the God of Israel I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land fountains of water.”
And one more …Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, and my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.”
The Shepherd will meet you beside those quiet waters and you will not be alone any more.
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