Flood the Earth!
RAIN! Here, in the Mid-Ohio Valley, we have had more than our share of rain this year. I don’t know if this is true, but I was told we have had as much in the last 2 years, as we have had in the last 12! WOW!
We need rain, yes, but too much of one thing always throws off the balance of life.
We have been singing a lot about rain over the last few months. We sing and cry out things like flood the earth, or like a tidal wave, or pour out etc. Of course, we are speaking spiritually. However, we know that the natural always mimics the spiritual world.
For several months, I have been walking during my lunch down to Point Park, which is on the river in Parkersburg…on the other side of the flood wall. It’s a nice place to walk, with benches and swings to sit by the river, and enjoy the outdoors. But with all the rain we have had, the park has suffered much damage. The river got so high, that it not only covered the walk way and parking lot, but it rose high enough that they had to close the flood wall to prevent flooding in our town.
When the banks of the Ohio River could not contain any more water, the water rose up and over. It covered the grass, the small trees, the swings, the bushes, the places where you secure your boats, and anything else that was in the path. Now, that wouldn’t be so bad if the water simply receded and soaked back into the earth and river bed. No, this time it left its’ mark.
When the flooding took place, and the waters receded, it left inches of dark, thick mud over everything and killed the grass. The city department had to bring in a back hoe and scrape the mud off the roadway, and in the middle of the clean-up, it flooded again!
This time, there is not only dark, thick, mud, but debris of all kinds. I’ve seen empty bottles, an empty cooler, refrigerator, trash bags, lids, cups, old shoes, lots and lots of drift wood, logs, trees, sticks, and even huge trees that you don’t think could have possibly floated anywhere! How does this happen? Because humans throw trash in the river instead of dealing with it and putting in a proper place!
When water rises, and rises quickly, it brings junk that had been laying on the bottom, and stuff floating around in the river, to the surface.
Why did I say all of this? The natural mimics the spiritual.
We have been crying out – flood the earth, pour our your rain…we have been praying that the eyes of our understanding be flooded with light…… WOW – once I realized we had even been praying about being flooded, I knew God was speaking!
So, as the Spirit of God begins to pour out over us, and flood our hearts and lives….what junk is going to surface? If we are not prepared, and if we don’t deal with the flood and if we are not willing to clean up after, we will be left with a darkness, or a dark, thick heavy attitude that will cause us to feel like we are walking through mud. Perhaps the cups of bitterness we have drank from, or bags/baggage that we have buried deep, instead of getting rid of it. Maybe that log that has been in your own eye or heart will come floating by, surfacing for us to finally see and deal with.
Due to the amount of flooding, the debris is much. It is taking many days, several people, much equipment, along with good ole sweat equity to clean up the layers upon layers of trash, junk, and mud brought to the surface at the park where I walk daily. But little, by little, they are making progress. As I paused writing this article and went to lunch, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the park. There were people with shovels and rakes working diligently to remove the debris, mud and junk that has been brought to the surface. They were raking layers of mud off the ground so that good grass seed can be planted there and beauty will be able to come forth. Trucks were hauling this debris away. Where? Not sure, but we will never see that particular debris again.
Is this not a picture of how the body of Christ is supposed to work? Helping remove unwanted layers in others’ lives – where they live? Helping one another to deal with leftover debris and baggage from past hurts, emotional wounds, and scars on the heart. As we deal with these things, we give them to the Holy Spirit who then hauls them away for us to never see again!
I challenge all of us – as we cry out for the Lord to flood the earth, flood our lives, flood our eyes with truth, and as issues and situations come forth for us to deal with…I challenge us all to remove these issues and give them to the Lord. It might require the assistance of others, it might require digging into messes we don’t really want to, but if we will allow God to do this work in our hearts, He will then be able to sow good seeds into us and we will produce beauty!
“Let Your glory and Your power, let your majesty and worth – Flood the Earth!” (Jesus Culture)
“That the eyes of my understanding be flooded with light so that I know the hope to which You have called me! Eph 1:18
- Date - May 4, 2018
