Water in the Desert

And so it goes…life on this planet is not possible without water. Same goes for external life. Baptism IS necessary for salvation. Water events, both in scarcity and abundance, require action and an enormous amount of reflection. It’s ironic that water is also reflective by nature and thus demands our attention; much like the human mind.

Water is salvific. A complex word that is both static and final, while also flowing and expansive. By water, sapiens for millions of years have been cleansed by it. God uses common elements from the order of Creation to sustain all living things on this earth. It’s no wonder we seek to find water in the outer reaches of the universe. Salvation is a state of both being and thought. We are baptized by God into the promises of eternal life. We are constantly in need of its presence to maintain homeostasis to keep alive. Water is salvific both theologically and biologically.

As the revelations of God’s land became visible after the great flood, water was the mover and shaper of the grandeur we see today. Like a potter uses water on the wheel to shape clay into a fine vase, God’s fingerprints are everywhere, especially in the arid deserts of the world. These regions encompass the land where Jesus walked and also the remote and harsh climates – both cold and hot. These are areas where water was once dominant and now only experience a fleeting wet kiss from God as it fitting.

Just like in life, we long for water when we are parched. Parched by the still lingering power of death, or the hot burning sand-stinging winds of divorce. Dryness has a way of getting our attention too. This creates an insatiable desire for wholeness that only water can bring. Water somehow is a visible and tangible relief to aridness of illness, loss, loneliness, and heartbreak. We need its cool touch to heal and its lasting absorption to restore.

Soon, someday soon, we are all going to need water, living water. Whether we live in tropical climes or in the desert itself, we will need water. Our water, the living water is everywhere. He is especially among and with us in the deserts of life – times and places when we most desperately need water – living water.

We will encounter the desert wilderness in our lives – most times without leaving home. When life challenges us, except in the ugliest of disasters, the tap water often still runs – yet we need ‘real’ water – living water. In the silence of our hearts, flowing through the brokenness, a message goes to God, who immediately, by the power of the Spirit, sends living water to our aid.

Through the drops of tears or the rush of gasping for air, your eyes open. Then your breathing is restored yet still in shock from the pain of the moment, you focus enough to take a sip. The journey out of the desert begins. There is a long way to go, but you find a nomadic community to attend to your pain and keep you on your path. You come to know the name of the living water and why you are loved.

His name is Jesus, the Christ, Messiah. You hear his words – I have come so that you may have life! He offers you perpetual and never-ending living water that tastes as sweet as hope, has the fragrance of restoration, and soothes like the balm in Gilead.

Thanks be to God, there is water in the desert and its been there all along. Drink up and live life!

Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT

“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.