A S P E C T S - a monthly devotional journal For subscription information on receiving Aspects every month via e-mail, or the laser-printed edition by mail, see NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION near the end of this file. Aspects is written by David S. Lampel. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #33, August 1993 (Internet Edition) S H A L L W E G A T H E R A T T H E R I V E R ? ----------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: Perspective 1 - The Eternal Spring: The Source Perspective 2 - Let The River Run: Unrestricted Flow Perspective 3 - Getting Our Feet Wet: The Result . . . so where the river flows everything will live. -Ezekiel 47:9b ----------------------------------------------------------------- Swarms of people, like ants swarming over a trampled hill, scurried over the levees, putting and plugging and filling sandbags to stack atop one another in a sometimes futile effort against the rushing waters. Anger and frustration mixed with exhausted triumph until the battle was either lost or won. The waters came, were held, then came pouring through the man-made attempts to harness the will of the mighty river. In the days of ancient Egypt, the true wealth of that nation was to be found in the fertile silt deposited on the crop lands during the annual inundation of the River Nile. Without the faithful gift of the flooding Nile, Egypt would have been only a barren, desert land. But with the annual inundation it was able to sustain not only its own people, but the hungry of many lands. Over the centuries, the Egyptians learned that if they lived their lives according to the River's annual gift, they would prosper and be a great nation. But the modern way is to do just the opposite: we build up dikes and levees and flood-control channels to restrain and re-train the mighty rivers according to our own desires--choosing to circumvent the land instead of cooperate with it.(1) And so, every now and then, a city must swim its way out of the predicament in which it finds itself. Homes and businesses fill with muck and we cry out in anger against the land. ____________________________ As I write this it is raining. It rained yesterday and the day before that. It rained last week. It will probably rain tomorrow. Our pond has risen and gone around the bend so many times that there is now a permanent creek bed channeled out of the end of the dike. Here on our land outside of Winterset we are better off than many others. Our well continues to supply water and our worst headaches are only what to do with a lawn too wet to mow and a garden too muddy to weed. But all around us the rivers continue their ebb and flow, and people still battle against those elements over which they have little control. The river has become an enemy, something to hate as it creeps and rushes into places we have claimed as our own. The prophet Ezekiel describes a different river--a river whose source springs from the throne of God: The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. It is a river flowing with life itself, never ending, always sustaining: Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. [He said] "Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."(2) This is a river we needn't fear. It is a river we are called to embrace, for it springs from the seat of God and carries His life to all who care to sink their roots on its banks. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 1: T H E E T E R N A L S P R I N G ------------- "The river that rose in the secret place of God symbolises for us the great thought which is put into plainer words by the last of the apostles when he says, "We love Him because He first loved us." All the blessings of salvation rise from the unmotived, self-impelled, self-fed divine love and purpose. Nothing moves Him to communicate Himself but His own delight in giving Himself to His poor creatures; and it is all of grace that it might be all through faith.All merely human efforts at social reform, rivers that do not rise in the Temple, are like the rivers in Mongolia, that run for a few miles and then get sucked up by the hot sands and are lost and nobody sees them anymore. Only the perennial stream, that comes out from beneath the Temple threshold, can sustain itself in the desert, to say nothing of transforming the desert into a Garden of Eden."(3) ____________________________ People in the Des Moines area have been learning what it is like to live without something so typically taken for granted. * Those needing drinking water must travel to one of many parking lots in the city where potable water is dispensed. * All home taps are dry; public showers and lavatories have been set up for personal hygiene. * For many, friends and neighbors located outside the area are called upon for the occasional use of their shower or washing machine. * "Porta-potties" have been distributed and have become a ubiquitous appendage to every place of business. * Toilets are flushed by pouring a bucket of water into the bowl. * Restaurants serve nothing that depends on water for its preparation. The source of water, for the moment at least, had been lost. Nothing flowed through the city pipes but stale air. In a moment, hundreds of thousands of people learned what it was like to be without an essential resource that, suddenly, was no longer there. ____________________________ When was the last time God wasn't there for you? When ever has the valve been closed in the pipeline from His throne? Earthly rivers may change their course or overflow their banks; springs and creeks may dry up in a season. But the river that flows from the throne of God is constant, unfailing, ever sustaining. If we camp by the river that flows through our city, we may be washed away, in time, or be left standing by a dry wadi. But if we camp by the River of Life that flows from under the Temple door, we will know only eternal comfort and refuge. But there is something that earthly rivers do have in common with God's eternal river: When man tries to confine and alter the flow of a river, that river will fight back--sometimes with disastrous results. When man tries to confine and alter the flow of God's river, the effort is doomed to failure. Because it emanates from perfect God, the river itself is perfect. It is an act of supreme arrogance to think we can in any way improve upon what has been delivered from the throne of God. The Lord's way will stand--no dike or levee can reshape it, no dam will restrain its flow. Into the Word ------------- There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. -Psa 46:4 Psalm 42:1 __________________________________ Psalm 46:4 __________________________________ Psalm 65:9 __________________________________ Jer 2:13 __________________________________ Jer 17:13 __________________________________ Joel 3:18 __________________________________ Amos 5:24 __________________________________ John 4:11-15 __________________________________ Rev 21:6 __________________________________ Rev 22:1-2 __________________________________ Rev 22:17 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Like a River Glorious Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, Over all victorious in its bright increase; Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day, Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way. Chorus: Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest; Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, Never foe can follow, never traitor stand; Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there. Every joy or trial falleth from above, Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love. We may trust Him fully all for us to do; They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.(4) Making it Personal ------------------ Have you ever felt that God's River of Life had dried up? What did you do about it? Was He the one who went dry, or was it you? Should we lump together God the Father and Jesus Christ in this image of the river, or do they play separate and distinct roles? Is there an "Old Testament" and a "New Testament" interpretation to this, or is there only one? Into the Word ------------- Read Ezekiel 47:1-12 in your favorite translation (the complete NIV text is printed on page 8 of this issue), dwelling especially on verses 1 and 7-12. Then answer the following questions: If we are to interpret this text in a figurative sense, and this passage is not speaking of a literal stream of water, what is it that is flowing out from the temple? Notice how quickly--even supernaturally--the water increases. What does this say to you? In verse 11 the swamps and marshes are not included in the freshening (healing) that even the Dead Sea receives. Why not? What do these marshes represent? The trees that grow on the banks of this river contain fruit for food and leaves for healing. What do you think these represent? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 2: L E T T H E R I V E R R U N ------------- "Left to its own devices, a flooding river spreads horizontally, filling its natural floodplain and enriching it with fertile, alluvial soil. Along the Mississippi, however, this pattern of natural flow has been increasingly blocked by a patchwork of levees. The effect is that an increasingly pent-up river rises higher, moves faster downstream, and is more prone to back up like a clogged drain, increasing the pressure on unfortified areas. 'The water has to go somewhere,' says aquatic ecologist Richard Sparks of the Illinois Natural History Survey, 'and if we don't allow it to spread out, the only direction it can go is up.' Nowhere are these effects more dramatic than in the Mississippi Delta, which used to be replenished every year with rich alluvial deposits. Now the soil, laden with nutrients, is carried by the river, bypasses the Delta and falls into the Gulf of Mexico, where it is contributing to algae blooms and threatening the fisheries. The Delta is sinking, with the result that the levees keeping the river at bay have to be periodically raised. 'We need to start giving land back to the river,' says Larry Larson, head of Wisconsin's floodplain program. 'If we don't, sooner or later the river will take it back.'"(5) ____________________________ Jesus said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."(6) The river flowing from the throne of God is our life source. We drink from it by coming to Christ as we are, and believing in Him as He is. As we drink of this water, we are changed into the likeness of the Son; His Spirit possesses us and we gain His eternal life, which replaces our original, temporal life. Please note that the process is never reversed. God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, gain nothing from us. We have no living water with which to sustain them. And, likewise, we have no business trying to reshape the river as it flows out into the world. This world today is actively engaged in rearranging the things of God to fit them into a definition built by human hands. Instead of the questions "What can I do for Him?" (worship, servanthoood) or "What can I learn from Him?" (attentive pupil), the one being asked is "What can He do for me?" (self-centric). And like the tortured flow of the Mississippi, the things of God will inevitably come crashing through the sodden levees erected by hands intent on their own agenda. We are, essentially, to be conforming ourselves to the ways of God. Trying to conform Him to our ways results in, at best, confusion and grief, and, at worst, disaster. Conforming ourselves to His ways results in joy, peace--even reward. ____________________________ The river is from God. It is crystalline pure, untouched by the foul refuse of this world. The river is fresh and sweet, and carries no disease--only enriching life. Let it flow into your life. Let it flow all around and encompass you. Let it wash over you, to deposit its enriching silt into your life. ____________________________ When God made the world, He had a large amount of surplus water which He turned loose and told to go where it pleased; it has been going where it pleased ever since and that is the Mississippi River.(7) Into the Word ------------- But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! -Amos 5:24 Genesis 2:4-6 __________________________________ Deut 8:7-10 __________________________________ Psalm 1:1-3 __________________________________ Psalm 36:8 __________________________________ Song 4:15 __________________________________ Song 5:12 __________________________________ Isaiah 32:2 __________________________________ Isaiah 33:20-21 __________________________________ Ezekiel 47:1-12 __________________________________ John 7:37-39 __________________________________ Rev 22:1-2 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Send Your Rain Chorus: Send Your rain, send Your rain; Pour out Your Spirit, water all the earth. Send Your rain, send Your rain; Fill us with Your power, flood us with Your light. Send Your rain. Our hearts are dry and thirsty, our land is parched and bare; Give us rivers in the desert; let them overflow. Come and rain upon us, wash us with Your water; Give us life anew 'til our hearts are owned by You. Soften us with showers, the outpouring of Your Spirit; For Your streams are full of water; let them overflow. Pour it out upon us 'til every tribe and every tongue, Every nation is down upon their knees before You Lord.(8) Making it Personal ------------------ What does "drinking from the river" mean to you? Are drinking from the River of Life? How? How often? What are the results? Into the Word ------------- Our relationship with God's river can be pictured in many different ways. It can be simple and direct, or as complicated as the bounds of our imagination. How does Scripture counsel us on how we are to partake of and interact with God's river? (For example, would it include the ordinance of Communion?) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 3: G E T T I N G O U R F E E T W E T ------------- "In some tropical countries you will find blossoms, buds in their earliest stage, and ripened fruit all hanging upon one laden branch. Such ought to be the Christian life--continuously fruitful because dependent upon continual drawing into itself, by means of its roots and suckers, of the water of life by which we are fructified."(9) ____________________________ So here we are. The river is flowing by: Its current is fast, but not treacherous; there are no hidden whirlpools or eddies; its color is inviting, pure and unsullied; its fragrance is sweet and pleasant. Tall, fruitful trees blossom and thrive along its banks. All about us is burgeoning growth, luxuriant vitality. Now what? It's all very pretty. We are peaceful, content. Life is good, the air is sweet. God is good. Isn't life grand! Well, almost. First, we must step into the water. God never forces Himself on anyone. First we must know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. God's blessings, His salvation, are for those who dare to place their bare, unprotected feet into the rushing water. (No hip boots are permitted.) Only then are we allowed to draw from the life-giving river and have it flow through us. Ah, but this is not a one-time event--this is a process. This is not the act of believer baptism, once accomplished--it is the daily cleansing and nurturing of our fouled hearts by the life-blood of Christ; not daily salvation, but daily growth. We must come to the water for God's blessings. He offers them freely, but this is no passive exercise, where we stand in line to receive comforting pats atop our noggins. This is just another facet of our ongoing relationship. ____________________________ "The picture that ought to be realised by each of us is God's ideal, which there is power in the gospel to make real in the case of every one of us, the rapid and continuous increase in the depth and in the scour of "the river of the water of life," that flows through our lives. Luther used to say, "If you want to clean out a dunghill, turn the Elbe into it." If you desire to have your hearts cleansed of all their foulness, turn the river into it. But it needs to be a progressively deepening river, or there will be no scour in the feeble trickle, and we shall not be a bit the holier or the purer for our potential and imperfect Christianity."(10) ____________________________ God's pervasive river is so different from the flooding Mississippi: * Its waters carry the purity of holiness, not foul muck to stain the land. * It deposits only the sweet aroma of righteousness, not the stench of corruption. * It brings joy and peace, not misery and hopelessness. * Its waters build us up; they don't beat us down. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."(11) Into the Word ------------- He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. -Psalm 1:3 Lev 26:3-12 __________________________________ Deut 4:40 __________________________________ Deut 8:7-10 __________________________________ Joshua 1:8 __________________________________ 1 Kings 2:3-4 __________________________________ 2 Chron 7:13-14 __________________________________ Psalm 74:15 __________________________________ Prov 3:1-2 __________________________________ Eccl 1:7 __________________________________ Isaiah 66:12 __________________________________ Jer 2:13 __________________________________ Jer 7:23 __________________________________ Jer 17:8 __________________________________ Jer 31:9 __________________________________ Ezekiel 31:15 __________________________________ Ezekiel 47:1-12 __________________________________ Malachi 3:10-12 __________________________________ Hebrews 3:14 __________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- In Heavenly Love Abiding In heav'nly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, for nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid, But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed? Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back; My shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack. His wisdom ever waketh; His sight is never dim. He knows the way He taketh, and I will walk with Him. Green pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen; Bright skies will soon be o'er me, where darkest clouds have been. My hope I cannot measure; my path to life is free; My Savior has my treasure, and He will walk with me.(12) Making it Personal ------------------ Is it possible for you to do (or fail to do) anything that would reduce or shut off the flow of God's blessings? Be sure to use Scripture for your answer. Put this process into practical terms for your own life. When we speak of "coming to the river," what does that mean to you? When we speak of having the river "flow through our lives," what does that really mean? Into the Word ------------- In the first Psalm the imagery changes so that now we become the tree that is planted by the life-giving stream. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. -Psa 1:1-3 How do we get to be that tree? What are the benefits to us, being that tree? What are the benefits to others? ======================================================================== NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Notes ----- 1 This story of the ways of ancient Egypt is true, but given in the past tense only. In 1960 Egypt (under Gamal Abdel Nasser) began construction on the Aswan High Dam, near the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The dam was built to regulate the flow of the Nile and supply hydo-electric power--which it does splendidly. It has also thoroughly disrupted agricultural growing cycles and brought devastating amounts of salt to the topsoil of crop land--resulting, also, in rapid deterioration of Egypt's ancient struc tures from leaching salts. 2 The complete text: The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then le d me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross. He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there , I saw a great num ber of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi t o En Eglaim there will be places f or spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds--like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." -Ezekiel 47:1-12 3 Alexander Maclaren, in his Expositions of Holy Scripture (Baker, 1984), Vol 6, p84f. 4 Frances R. Havergal (1836 - 1879). 5 J. Madeleine, reporting in Time magazine, July 26, 1993 issue. 6 John 7:37-38. 7 S.S. Prentiss, quoted in A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore. 8 Don and Valerie Dalton, c 1990 Integrity's Hosanna! Music / ASCAP (with apologies to those who have been suffering the ill effects of the recent earthly inundation). 9 Alexander Maclaren, in his Expositions of Holy Scripture (Baker, 1984), Vol 6, p37f. 10 Ibid, p36f. 11 Matthew 11:28-30. 12 Anna L. Waring (1820 - 1910). Copyright Information --------------------- All original material in Aspects is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel. This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel."). This data file may not be used without the permission of David S. Lampel for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content. Brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words may be used, with the appropriate copyright notice, to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions, newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Subscription Information ------------------------ Aspects is published monthly. There are two preferred methods of receiving it on a regular basis: 1) You may subscribe to the laser-printed (hard copy) edition, which is sent out via regular mail. This edition is different from this file you are reading in the following ways: - a "typeset" look, with italics, larger titles and headings, etc. - Scripture text and quotations are more obviously set apart - lines printed for your notes after each question - arrives pre-punched for a 3-ring binder - generally looks better 2) You may subscribe to the e-mail edition, which will be "mailed" to you directly each month. This edition will be formatted just like this file you are now reading--which still contains all the text of the printed edition. There is no charge for either option. 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Endnote reference numbers are enclosed in parentheses (); quotations are enclosed by quotation marks " ", and are further set apart from original text by indentation and the presence of a following endnote reference; Scripture references are indented and cite the reference in the first line. If you would prefer reading Aspects in its more native, printed form, we would encourage you to subscribe to the edition that is mailed out every month. ---------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/aspects: asp-033.txt