Let the River Flow
Life has a way of carving out deep canyons in our lives, leaving gaping holes in its wake. We are left with the jagged cuts of deep voids from the regular goings-on, but also from the work of the enemy to deepen and widen these chasms. And it can seem that these vacant chasms will always reverberate with the echoes of life-gone-wrong…
Recently my family was able to have a time of worship with my entire extended family. I was moved to tears in that time, just feeling the depth and fullness in the room. It’s like you could feel the collection of all these individually-lived lives where each decision, big or small, was made in obedience to and faith in the Lord. Hard decisions, easy decisions. Day after day. Moment after moment. All brought unassumingly to the throne room of God once again. But the overcoming presence of the Lord there where two or three who lived following His footsteps… Well, it was like being flooded with waters from that river that flows directly from the throne room of God. And that river was filling in the parched cracks of my current circumstances.
Ezekiel 47
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.
He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.
In our church services this last weekend, I was reminded of this passage in Ezekiel that describes the river of God that flows from the temple. This river that brings life wherever it goes (v9). The river whose waters are used for healing and for medicine (v12). This river that feeds our souls, heals our hearts, and spreads that healing to all around us.
Part of the beauty of corporate worship is that we are washing over each other, in essence, with the truths and promises and testimonies the Lord has done in our lives. Without me even having experienced your testimony, I am washed over with the faithfulness of the Lord there. Without even knowing what I have been through, you can be encouraged and even healed with the truth of what the Lord has done in my life, a promise of how He will be to yours.
We all come to the throne room with carved-out terrain the Lord never intended to be split and dug out. Coming to worship can allow the river flowing from the temple in someone else’s life to spill over into mine and begin to fill that chasm. And though we may feel like our canyon is far too deep and dry for whatever trickle-down drips to make any difference at all, these are the waters of life. And WHEREVER they go, there is life because this water “flows from the sanctuary” (v12).
There is enough water to fill whatever canyon you face. Ezekiel describes how the river is at parts ankle-deep (v3), and at parts knee-deep and even waist-deep (v4). And then there are regions where it the water is “too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed” (v5). Though it feels like the challenges we face tower and threaten to drown us, the river of God towers over even the most imposing of our enemies.
The question was posed to Ezekiel when he gazed upon the river, have you seen this? Are you familiar with these waters? Do you understand what you’re looking at? It is directly from the throne room of God. It is gentle with healing; it is rushing with life. There is enough life and healing in these waters to flood the parched ground of the chasm you stand in.
Perhaps you are in a place where you need someone else’s river ride to give hope to your canyon. Let their worship flood your heart with the faithfulness of our God. Perhaps you are in a place where the river has freshly flooded what seemed to be unhealable land. Let worship flood your heart with gratefulness for who God is again. Perhaps you are in a place where the well-established path of rivers in your heart speak of a life of void after void filled with these healing waters. May your worship waterfall into someone else’s jagged cuts.
I myself am faced with an ever-deepening canyon that appears to be only getting deeper and longer. Life keeps running its rusty blade through the terrain of my life. And the temptation is to worry and fear that it will literally break my world apart. That my life will be left in severed pieces, broken beyond repair. But the Word of the Lord to me is to let the canyon get as deep as it wants. To let the cutting away go as far and as long as it does. And that like the widow with the jars of oil, the Lord means to fill every crevice of my canyon with His goodness and His life and His abundance. It looks like my life is leaking and in danger of running dry. And granted, this is not the path of life and righteousness I would have chosen. But if the Lord can turn this harsh crusty canyon into a path for His rushing river, then I will wait by the will-be shore expectantly, hopefully, with faith in my heart. Because I have seen Him fill my canyons before. I have felt Him make a lush life from a barren land. He has washed over me before, surely He will do it again.
Whatever the place you are in, recall to mind what the Lord HAS DONE and where He HAS BEEN. Though the river feels only ankle-deep or knee-deep in your heart, keep your eyes on the Lord. For that river WILL BE so deep that it towers over whatever towers over you. Keep looking to the throne room from whence the waters source. Let the river of your worship flow, and watch as the river of His healing and life flood your soul once again.
