day no. 13,111: a simple matter of amount and type of water

Isaiah 8:6-7

6 Because these people rejected

the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.

People easily reject and dismiss the gentle, slow flowing waters of the way of grace through faith that God demands.

It is easily set aside as quaint or pie-in-the-sky. 

It is fairy-tale and daydreams.

It’s too good to be true.

So we rejoice in the fleeting help of resourcefulness.

We place faith in our ability to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

We find confidence in contriving and conniving.

We have courage fueled by an unfounded optimism that bad things could never happen to us the way they do the people on TV.

God’s response is to send mighty rushing waters our way.

Instead of the lazy river on which we could have rested and enjoyed His provision, we are given the raging river of flood stage catastrophe.

We are drowned in the sorrows of our own choosing.

We reject grace and receive wrath.

And we do it to ourselves.

But there is hope.

The offer of gentle waters yet remains as long as it is called, “today.”

Do not harden your hearts and choose the easy way of self-satisfaction and self-reliance. 

Do the tough work of denying yourself and resting by faith in His grace, that lazy river of God’s love and provision.

Psalm 23:2b

He leads me beside quiet waters.