I thirst

Our region has been going through a particularly dry spell more recently. Adding some very high temperatures to this, even in my generally shady and moist part of the world plants have been shrivelling and dying, leaves are burnt brown on the bushes, and my soul feels the same, like it is so dry it is about to crack.

The other day as I read a friend's blog* about rain and listened to the beautiful song she has written, I had one of those flashes of insight, this time about the idea of desert experiences. In the past, I have usually linked desert experiences to being personally spiritually dry, to feeling disconnected from God. However, I saw then that it can just as easily be about experiencing the spiritual dryness of the world.

As I watch and listen to all that is going on in our world, I can easily fall into despair. "When, O Lord, when will You bring Your justice?" 

I read words in the Bible like "You heavens above, rain down righteousness [which can be interpreted justice]; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it..." (Is 45:8) and "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matt 5:6), and my soul cries out "Yes, Lord, bring it on!"

From the issues of slavery and sexual slavery, to religious wars, hatred and violence, to the treatment of those seeking asylum in our own country, to youth suicide, cyber bullying, not to mention the inequality we see both at home, but more particularly across the nations, and the state of our environment, I find the sickness of our world soul destroying and depressing. And yes, I can make a difference where I am, but there are times it hardly seems enough, hardly seems worth it.

And so comes the dryness, the drought of justice, of God's righteousness reigning and ruling. The tug of war between the expansion of light and the overwhelming, suffocating darkness seems to inch then sway ever more strongly in the direction of darkness. And while, in the comfort of my western, civilised life, it is easy to say it is because we have rejected God in favour of our own strength and intelligence, that does not fix the problems of those who are increasingly closer to me as my circles of interaction continue to widen.

Today was the World Day of Prayer. Perhaps it is no accident that the theme this year is "Streams in the Desert". As we went through the liturgy, so much related back to the theme of a plentiful supply of water in places where there has been none, bringing an abundance of life, health, and prosperity. Verses were included such as Is 44:3 "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground",  Is 35:6b "Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert" and Is 41:18 "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs."

These verses bring both longing and hope to my soul. Longing for the day when God's justice will be poured out on the nations, bringing some sort of equality and hope for all people. And hope, because as I have seen Him fulfill His promises to me personally, I have hope that He will do what He has promised for the world. 

But I live in that place of tension between the now and the not yet, between the promise and its fulfillment, and it causes me tension between faith and doubt. What if it never changes, if it only ever gets worse? And I have to cling to the hope that, just as He has not let me down in so many ways, there is also the witness of so many others through the ages, that He hasn't let them down either, and that in His sovereign timing, He will fulfill all His promises and His justice and righteousness will reign on earth. 

And maybe, just maybe, part of the waiting is for His body here to rise up again to do their part.

"But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"  Amos 5:24

*http://notesandodes.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/rain/