Streams in the Desert - Dec 07
by L. B. E. Cowman and Jim Reimann
You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also hand Moab over to you. (2 Kings 3: 17– 18)
To human reason, what God was promising seemed simply impossible, but nothing is too difficult for Him. Without any sound or sign and from sources invisible and seemingly impossible, the water flowed the entire night, and “the next morning . . . there it was . . . ! And the land was filled with water. . . . The sun was shining on the water. . . . [And it] looked red— like blood” (vv. 20, 22).
Our unbelief is always desiring some outward sign, and the faith of many people is largely based on sensationalism. They are not convinced of the genuineness of God’s promises without some visible manifestation. But the greatest triumph of a person’s faith is to “be still, and know that [He is] God” (Ps. 46: 10).
The greatest victory of faith is to stand at the shore of the impassable Red Sea and to hear the Master say, “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today” (Ex. 14: 13), and “Move on” (Ex. 14: 15). As we step out in faith, without any sign or sound, taking our first steps into the water, we will see the water divide. Continuing to march ahead, we will see a pathway open through the very midst of the sea.
Whenever I have seen God’s wondrous work in the case of some miraculous healing or some extraordinary deliverance by His providence, the thing that has always impressed me most was the absolute quietness in which it was done. I have also been impressed by the absence of anything sensational and dramatic, and the utter sense of my own uselessness as I stood in the presence of this mighty God, realizing how easy all this was for Him to do without even the faintest effort on His part, or the slightest help from me.
It is the role of faith not to question but to simply obey. In the above story from Scripture, the people were asked to “make this valley full of ditches” (2 Kings 3: 16). The people obeyed, and then water came pouring in from some supernatural source to fill them. What a lesson for our faith!
Are you desiring some spiritual blessing? Then dig the ditches and God will fill them. But He will do this in the most unexpected places and in the most unexpected ways. May the Lord grant us the kind of faith that acts “by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5: 7), and may we expect Him to work although we see no wind or rain.
~A. B. Simpson
Reference
Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 455). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Categories: spiritual