The Longing of a Parched Land

My soul longs for Thee, as a parched land.

Psalm 143:6

Two months without rain. Skies of brass, blistering heat, golden lawns and leaves of brown falling from above. I wake each morning, open the bedroom curtains: I see only sunshine and pray for rain.

My friend writes, "The drought makes me thirsty for His presence." She longs and these days I feel only tired, parched. I pray for rain.

I come each day to the wells of salvation and read the words of life, as I know I must. But I feel like the dust that swirls around my son's ankles when he hits the grass with a stick. The Word swirls the dust of my heart, but what is called for is a cleansing shower. Pray for rain.

In Isaiah 2: 30 God warns faithless Israel, "For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away, or as a garden that has no water." Without His presence my soul is a parched land. Pray.

Call on the Lord and wait for the comfort and salvation of God. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation (Isaiah 12:3). When I am dry, I draw water from the springs again and again and await the joy. 

Last night it rained. Our plants are still wilted, bronze and copper, in the morning light. When the land is parched and scorched just one rainfall isn't enough. I wait with longing for more. And I wait with confidence because the streams of God never fail.

And the Lord will continually guide you, 

And satisfy your desire in scorched places,

And give strength to your bones; 

And you will be like a watered garden,

And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:11