Picture My Thoughts

You Gave Them Water

A couple of days ago, someone asked me a question. Not just any question. A question that caught my attention and has left me pondering the answer for about 48 hours now. If someone quietly turns to you and speaks, that's one thing; if you hear your name on the public address system of a filled sports stadium, well....that's another thing.

I didn't actually hear words directed to me through booming speakers, but for me, it was that rousing.

The question began, “Why aren't you.......?” The inquiry was about what I am doing in my life in obedience to God, or rather, quite possibly, what I am not doing. It was as if I was standing aimlessly holding a canteen of water in a dry desert. Someone walked by and asked me why I wasn't sharing my water with the thirsty people around me.

All I could do was trip over my words and mention how I had actually been “giving water out” in past years. Finally, I admitted to them and to myself that “dispensing water” is actually where my heart is, although I'm not really doing it NOW.

Here's the problem; I've been hiding the water. Why? Could it be fear of the unknown? Uncertainty about where water is actually needed? I'm not quite sure.

The Bible shows the goodness of God to the children of Israel in the book of Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 19 and 20:

19 "Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst."

I pray that God will give me wisdom about "my question" in the days and weeks to come. I pray that I will have the courage and strength from Him to be obedient in all things.