All of you set free by God, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.
4-9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.
He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.
10-16 Some of you were locked in a dark cell,
cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God’s Word,
for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—
A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,
and not a soul in sight to help.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He led you out of your dark, dark cell,
broke open the jail and led you out.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,
he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!
I stood there in worship, tears streaming my face, simply overwhelmed at the seemingly incomprehensible fragment nature of my life. In front of me, the stress of an impending week, and behind me, all that I still hadn’t quite made sense of yet. I knew that corporate worship, my safe place, was ending, and on the fast-approaching horizon, the reality was coming.
The heart of our home was crumbling under the stress of it all, and my world was in tow right along with it. For years, I had been fighting with little to no lasting change or growth. It was disappointing and disheartening as I stood that Sunday, headed into another week of the same. I can’t Lord. It’s too much. I just can’t anymore.
Then, I heard a soft voice say, “then don’t. Draw from me. I am a never-ending well. I won’t run dry.”
It was in that second I felt the Lord impress this truth on my heart, one I had subtly forgotten and one I hope you hear.
He is literally there, right there, in it with you, in every – single – second of every day.
So when you feel anger consume you, dig into the well. When you feel depression overwhelm you, dig into the well. When an incident at work or home triggers an old open wound, dig into the well.
Family, He won’t run dry.
He won’t run out of peace to give us, hope to sustain us, joy unthinkable in the midst of the scattered pieces of our soul. He is enough- and never comes up short if we’ll go to the well.
For me this week, it came in my daughter’s hug, flowers from my man, a scripture on my phone, and a text from a friend. When we seek Him, we will find Him, but that promise is ONLY activated when we seek.
Oh and wells. They are deep, dark places no one would think to jump into willingly.
But what if the darkness we’ve stumbled upon is really just a route to water? What if the darkness is really a sign that you’re close to what you’re looking for?
Either way, if you’re thirsty, drink deeply from the wonders of His ever PRESENT grace in your life. Before the bottle, before binging (on food or tv), before drowning in Instagram, seek Him. He’ll quench our dry bones and they’ll begin to live again.
You’ll be surprised how a little moisture can turn the broken dust-like fragments of our life into clay fit for The Potters use.
Happy Monday ya’ll!
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I love reading these blog posts! I have been running to him myself lately and feel so much relief.
Thank you for sharing. It’s a habit we have to develop but oh so rewarding when we’re in His arms.