My stumbling blocks this morning are Hank and Cheeto the Cats, who like to take turns sitting in my lap as I read my Bible. While Hank is content to occasionally bat at the bookmarker ribbon, Cheeto prefers batting at me. It's a bit distracting, but we will press on.
In between feline attacks, I’m reading Genesis—and thinking of water. It's mentioned so many times in the Bible that I don't always pay attention to it, but it's important to remember that a well was a precious thing in a desert climate. It could mean the difference between life and death, which is why Jesus would later use “living water” as a metaphor for eternal life through Him. There’s a heartbreaking scene in Genesis, when an exiled Hagar and her son, Ishmael, are wandering in the dessert. Out of food and water, Hagar distances herself from her child so she won’t have to watch him die. She is empty and defeated, with nothing more to give. But God hears her son’s cries. An angel speaks to Hagar and promises to build a nation from Ishmael. A well appears, and Hagar once again has life-giving water for her child.
Ever feel like your personal well is dry—like your own resources are so depleted that you have nothing to draw from, nothing to offer those around you who might be thirsty? As a person and as a writer, I tend to get that way when I’m exhausted, stressed, worried, or all of the above. My mental and spiritual landscape gets a little parched, and I sometimes forget my way to the well.
Hagar and Ishmael are part of Abraham's story, and my Bible has a map of the route that he and his family traveled from Ur to Canaan. It says that they took an indirect route that “followed the rivers rather than attempting to cross the vast desert.” That spoke to me this morning. For weeks I’ve been telling myself “I don’t have time for a devotional this morning, but I’ll be sure and get to that tomorrow.” I’ve been trying to cross the vast desert with no water. It was good to return to Genesis this morning. It was good to follow the river again.
[Image by Lindsay Niles @ Freerangestock.com]
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