Drought, Heat, Oh my!

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. (Jerremiah 17:7-8 NLT)

Long months of drought. Heat that scorches and dries. Those are things that most of us want to avoid, not just 'survive', aren't they? The longer we live on this earth, the chances are good that we will endure some 'scorching heat' and 'drought'. If not in our natural world, then in our spiritual lives. The droughts in a spiritual sense are kind of like very dry seasons that are marked by us not really feeling all that 'connected' to God. It is like we just don't 'feel' his presence, much less feel like what we are doing to maintain that relationship is really 'working'. We might read our Bibles, go to church regularly, even engage in some form of 'ministry', but we just don't 'feel it'. In those seasons, it is harder to remain faithful, but that is not the time to give in to the desire to 'just give up'. It is the time to press in even harder!

Why? When we have placed our trust in the Lord and made him the source of our hope and confidence, we need not worry about the 'dry seasons'. They will come, but we will get through them stronger, more confident in his faithfulness, and deeply in love with him. How? We will find he draws us nearer, causing us to put down even deeper roots than we had prior to the dry season (through prayer, time spent with him, time in his Word, and just celebrating his goodness in those times). Deeper roots often require the driest of seasons in a natural sense. The roots 'go on the lookout' for even deeper sources of life-giving water. Jesus said those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life. (John 4:14)

Deeper roots are like a life-giving spring - bubbling up from within, though we might not realize it even exists until we need that life-giving flow. When things are 'going well' for us, we seldom need to 'dig deep' and find a fresh source of his life-giving flow. When things are a little less than 'perfect' in our lives, we seem to be driven to 'dig in' and 'go deeper', don't we? The dry seasons are not to be avoided at all cost. They are precious because they help us to grow in him. We need not be bothered or worried when they come but celebrate that he cares enough about us to provide a source for our strength and nourishment as we face them. Just sayin!