In the Water Cycle of God's Word

RAIN

Isaiah 55:10–11

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,

And do not return there,

But water the earth,

And make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower

And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out with joy,

And be led out with peace.”

God’s Word comes down to earth like rain and snow from heaven.

It does not stay above.

It falls.

It soaks in.

It accomplishes its purpose.

God’s Word is like water.

It washes us.

It cleanses us.

It waters our gardens

It quenches our thirsts

Jesus is the Living Water—the One who quenches our thirst, just as He said to the woman at the well.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

Come to the waters.”

— Isaiah 55:1

GROUND

The human heart is soil.

Our hearts are able to receive this water that comes from above.

Seeds can be planted there.

Harvests can grow.

Our hearts can become a garden—

full of trees,

bearing fruit.

The ground on which this water falls is us—people.

“You shall be like a watered garden.”

— Isaiah 58:11

Or the soil can be hard, dry, unreceptive.

Jesus speaks about this in Mark 4, in the parable of the sower.

The condition of the ground matters.

STREAMS OF LIVING WATER

The water is the Spirit.

John 7:37–39

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said,

out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

(This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.)

When the Spirit flows within us, we do not merely receive water—

we become a source.

THE RIVER

There is a river that flows from the temple of God.

It passes fields, trees, valleys—

and finally reaches the sea.

You are the temple.

And the Spirit is that river flowing through you.

Ezekiel 47

“…it was a river that I could not cross,

for the water was too deep—

water in which one must swim,

a river that could not be crossed.”

This river flows into the sea.

THE SEA

The sea is the world.

It is salty.

You cannot water a plant with it.

You cannot drink it.

You cannot cleanse yourself in it.

The world and its systems—broken, harsh, ungrateful.

When I first thought about this river—this beautiful, living water—flowing into the sea, my first thought was:

What a waste...

Then a verse came to mind:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

— John 3:16

• God gave His Son to a world that is salty.

• Brackish.

• Often ungrateful.

Christ’s blood was poured out for a world that did not value Him.

And yet—God still gives.

As I continued reading Ezekiel 47, I saw something astonishing:

“When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed…

Everything will live wherever the river goes.”

• The sea is healed.

• Life appears.

• Fish multiply.

• Trees grow with fruit that never fails.

We must never underestimate the impact of love, the impact of light, and the impact of truth in our world.

The river transforms even the saltiest places.

May I also learn to share the precious and beautiful living water I have received freely—

with the sea.

EVAPORATION

If you search Scripture for what rises—what goes up—

you find prayers, praise, worship.

Like evaporation, we return water to God. Evaporated water is not salty or filthy, the sun pulls pure water from the earth into the clouds.

• Pure water.

• Holy water.

  
  

It is our response to what has fallen from heaven.

• The rain came.

• The thirst was quenched.

• We were washed clean.

• The garden flourished.

• The trees bore fruit.

• Streams of living water sprang up within us.

And our only response is gratitude.

• We pray.

• We praise.

• We give back what belongs to Him—

• glory, power, the kingdom.

All the holy water that came down in rain and snow

does the work for which it was sent.

And our response rises back to our Holy God—

• who is wise, full of understanding

• who is so generous,

• and who desires only the best for us.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

— Matthew 6:13

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