Living Waters

       

"May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, Like showers that water the earth.  In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon is no more" (Psa. 726-7).

Hey Gang:  One thing I can attest to is that, in my seven trips to the Araba (desert of Israel), I learned respect and a deep appreciation for the desert and the people of the desert.  In America, where we have so many conveniences, we do not have a clue what it means to live in an environment that seems bent on taking your life. 

The greatest of all dangers is the lack of water.  One does not just run to the tap and draw out a bucket or two.  One of the first things we had to do on our arrival at Ir Ovot was to reconnect the water lines that had been removed by the Bedouins to water their flocks or any others who  needed a piece of pipe.  A crew of the more husky workers was send into the surrounding country side to find the needed pipes and connections to reassemble the water lines. 

  

Throughout the Bible we find many stories about this life providing liquid called water; some good, such as the rains that brought the needed wetness to grow their crops, and some not so good, like the flood in Noah's day.  For our entourage, it was not the availability of water that was dangerous, for there was adequate water to meet our needs, but rather the discipline of making sure our water intake was sufficient to provide for what we were losing through evaporation. 

Evaporation is referred to as a silent killer in the desert, for you do not feel it zapping the life out of your body.  People were assigned with water buckets and dipper to make rounds every half hour and make sure everyone drank a dipper of water. 

The children of Israel knew what the lack of water meant in their sojourn through the desert.  As I study the wilderness experience, I wonder why God led Moses to take the southern route from Egypt to the land of milk and honey.  The Northern route was the shortest by far and fresh water was available that would have supplied for their needs.  There were no such water sources on the Southern route – but neither as many Egyptian soldiers,

It is a known fact, to the desert people, that one can live three days without water, and Marah would have been three days on their journey but the water was bitter.  The Bedouins had a saying "one drop on the end of your tongue and you go for days" (meaning your plumbing tends to erupt).   Again we ask, “Why, Lord, would you direct them to this spring?”  Answer? To clean Egypt out of their bodies.  He knew they were going to walk for forty years and the waters contained dolomite which strengthens the legs and magnesium and other laxative additives to clean out the parasites that they had picked up in the mud pits making bricks for Pharaoh.  

Sooooo,  we ask, "Why Marah?"  Why does God lead us through the desert to the Marah's that tend to be just around the bend?  God gave them His best shot to prepare them for what was ahead.  This we can take to the bank, there will be many times in our walk with the Lord when each one will have to step up to the line and drink of bitter waters in order to purify ourselves for God's next step in our lives.   But this we learned in our sojourn in the desert, if we are obedient, God will supply for our needs.  God said to Moses, throw that tree into the waters - he did and the waters were sweetened.   God provided, but it was not His first desire for them.

Blessings