I'm starting a new series called "Streams in the Desert," based on the title of a devotional that has some powerful truths for weary travelers on this journey we call the Christian life. I am finding a new strength in the last couple of months from these streams, the promises of God and God himself I've encountered in the desert. This first post of the series features the beginning of it all at a women's ministry kickoff last month and then I will post random devotionals or verses that have been life-giving streams to me in this once parched land. I feel He has come and nourished my soul, providing living springs where there was once desert.
Psalm 1:1-3. Blessed is the man/woman who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his/her delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he/she meditates day and night. He/She is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he/she does prospers.
Jeremiah 17:7-8. But blessed is the man/woman who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He/She will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
I learned from the speaker that day that these two passages depict two different streams. (I've shared my answers from my reflection that day and answers provided in the teaching below in italics but feel free to reflect on these questions on your own)
What is the stream in the first passage? Here the stream represents the Word of God… “her delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law she meditates day and night.” The word is feeding it [the tree] constantly… as the tree remains planted near it. Here is the critical point, we must realize we are firmly planted near the source, even in seasons where it seems we are in dry lands.
What is the stream in the second passage? Here the stream represents God himself, our Source. The tree drinks deeply and their soul is nourished, even in times of no rain… and it always bears fruit. We can be thriving women, in every season…
Prayerfully reread the Jeremiah passage and answer the questions below.
Who is the blessed man/woman in this passage? The one whose confidence is in the Lord… who trusts the Lord despite the circumstances… who doesn’t forget the Lord in times of difficulty or drought and freak out that they have got to figure it out on their own… but who sends its roots by the stream, whose roots drink deeply from the Lord.
This woman can drink deeply, even when there is no rain.
What does the passage say about?
The roots-Sends its roots by the stream… reaches out to the life-giving source… our thirsty souls… to be fed daily by being close to the Lord, to drink deeply… planted by the water.
The leaves –Its leaves are always green… despite the season, despite the circumstances
The fruit –Always bearing fruit, even in times of drought or difficulty
The stream –The stream is what is sustaining it.
Draw a picture of the tree described in the passage in Jeremiah. Then we had to draw ourselves as the tree. Then they asked the following questions. How would you draw YOU as a tree right now at this point in your life (basing it on your spiritual health or state right now? What is the health, or “flourishing” of your tree? Are we next to it? Are we connected to it? Are we flourishing? Do we feel we are withering? What is the promise found in both of these passages? What do we need to do in order to receive this promise?
We did this exercise in a bible study in a women’s ministry I’m a part of. It was powerful. I mean, how many of us can relate to needing that stream in the desert? I have loved this imagery as I have found how God has come and filled this parched land with springs day after day that I have hardly forgotten I am in desert. But my job is to remember that I am firmly planted next to Him and allow Him to sustain me constantly, so that the way I see and live my everyday life, in the mundane tasks, he is glorified.
He has been my stream in the desert, as well as His word which I’ve come to treasure. I heard someone talk about a book called Streams in the Desert, which is actually a devotional, but it reinforces a lot of these themes I’ve just begin to explore in the last month.
I want to be a woman who is like that tree planted by the water… whose leaves are always green.
Those last few words really stuck out to me because as I can see in my life, even this summer which I would describe as the hardest part of the “desert” season, as we’re connected to the source, even in times of drought, we are nourished. We do not fear when heat comes, we never fail to bear fruit. These are rich promises I was refreshed to read in Jeremiah 17 and rich promises that have allowed me to be sustained not by the promises along, but by the Promiser.
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