A Time of Drought

We are in a time of drought.

For those of us living in California, that’s hardly news. We are experiencing the worst drought in centuries, coming hard on the heels of a string of dry years. Lack of winter snows, followed by a dry spring and summer, have led to arid conditions, which are impacting crops, livestock, wildfires, and soon, everyday water use by millions of people. According to one report,  2021 could be one of the driest years in a millennium, with only half of the normal precipitation so far this year.

There’s not much we can do to end the drought, since its out of our hands. All we can do is try to endure and manage the water we do have, the best we can, and of course, pray for rain. As Psalm 135:7 says, “He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” So let us pray that he does just that, and brings the rain.

Unfortunately as bad as the lack of water is, there is another kind of drought that is also devastating our land, here and throughout the country, and that is a spiritual drought. People’s spirits have dried up, turned to dust, and blown away in the hot winds of life, leaving people thirsting and seeking relief in the arid sands of drugs, material possessions, and entertainments. In doing so, they are like survivors on a life raft who drink the ocean water, only to become thirstier and thirstier until death overtakes them. The signs are all around us as violence, drug overdoses, and suicides reach epidemic proportions.

What are the causes of this spiritual drought? Certainly the past year and a half of the pandemic and the unrelenting coverage and warnings about it have played a part, but the drought goes much deeper. We have survived epidemics and even wars before, but now the situation seems much worse. What’s to blame?

The primary cause of our spiritual drought – and its horrible consequences in society – is our nation’s general rejection of God. This is not to say that there aren’t numerous believers, because there are. The problem is that we have removed the name of God, and the fear of God, from our public life. Every institution has been stripped  of its God-given responsibilities and moral restrictions. Politicians and public officials, educators and students, judges and corporations, movie stars and sports celebrities, have banished God and sought to operate by their own power and desires. In the words of Judges 17:6, “. . . Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

All people are sinners, and we have all broken God’s commandments in both the spirit and the letter of the law, but in former times we at least recognized the validity of those laws; now we have rejected the very idea of there being a set of God-ordained requirements that should form the basis of society. This change in attitude and behavior has come through a steady encroachment of atheistic forces, but even our churches have played their part, either by compromising with the culture to “fit in” or by retreating from engagement with society into seemingly safe fortresses. The result has been a spiritually dry, drought-blasted nation.

I have been very discouraged about this spiritual drought and its consequences in our society. It seems that every day things get worse and worse, until my well of hope has almost dried up. But then I remember the book of Lamentations, in which Jeremiah looked with sadness upon the destruction of Jerusalem and its beloved Temple by the Babylonians. He lamented the loss, but then by faith was able to proclaim,

Jeremiah put his hope for future restoration, not in what his eyes could see, but in what God promised. Over a century before him, another prophet named Isaiah had given God’s word of promise: “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3). Note that the greater blessing, even greater than water to a parched land, is God’s Spirit. Later, the Lord spoke through the prophet Hosea (13:5) to remind the people, “It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.” Although so many have rejected him, and though God seems at times so far away, he has not forgotten his people. Instead, he calls us to return to him and receive the blessings he desires to give us, even to shower upon us. Even if it seems that the world around us is suffering spiritual drought and its terrible results, God’s promises still hold true for those individuals who believe in him and trust in him.

Psalm 1:2-3 describes the man (person) who delights in God and his Word: “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” Jeremiah continues God’s promise of abundant spiritual water: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).

And how does someone become planted near such abundant spiritual water that refreshes and nourishes his or her spirit? Not by laws or hard work, nor by good deeds or exemplary living, though such actions would improve our society. Those are good things, but are only surface changes and therefore temporary. What it takes for true spiritual blessing is answer the call and promise of Jesus Christ, who  Jesus stood up and cried out, “‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”‘ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive” (John 7:37-38).

If you believe in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit, and therefore your own spirit is alive. Water it daily through prayer and the study of God’s Word. Delight in God’s laws and in his promises. And don’t be discouraged; instead, “trust in the Lord with all your heart” (Proverbs 3:5), and worship the One who provides both natural and supernatural water to sustain us now, and through all eternity.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Job 24:19; Lamentations 3; John 7:37-39; Revelation 7:17.