Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Ephesians 3:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Have you ever ran out of water?  If you’ve ever lived in a home that used a well, you might have had such an experience.  My first encounter with running out of water was in our home in Peninsula, OH.  We had just moved in and I was in the shower covered head to toe in soap when the water ran out.  Making the experience even more memorable was the well could still generate a slow drip of cold water.  I got to stand there for a long time until the cold, slow drips rinsed me off.

We were told a good well had a recoupment rate of 3 – 5 gallons of water per minute.  Ours was 1 – 2 quarts per minute.  We learned how to adjust our water usage so we wouldn’t run out (most of the time).  As the well got weaker, we drilled deeper and found some improvement.  We added holding tanks in the basement to increase our usable supply.  Eventually, the well ran dry and we had a choice to build a cistern, like many in the village had, or we could drill in another place on our 1 acre.  We chose to drill.

The individual who drilled wells asked if we wanted him to “witch’ for it.  We said, “No.  We’ll pray for you that the Lord will guide you where to drill.”  The result was amazing.  He not only found water, but he said this was the strongest well in town.  He could measure up to 25 gallons of water per minute recoupment and this was beyond that!  What a gift from the Lord!!

I would like you to consider that forgiveness –  specifically, the ability to forgive – as a gift from the Lord to each of us, that has amazing similarities to the “well / water” illustration described above.  There is an abundant supply available, we simply have to live lives that tap into it.  Just like water, we use forgiveness repeatedly every day.  Some have “strong wells” and are able to forgive with little effort or concern.  The supply is there in  abundance because of decisions they have made to conform to the teachings of our Lord.

Others have “weaker wells or drying up wells”, where they find forgiving others to be more difficult and at times they seem to “run dry”.  Instead of soap, they find themselves covered with anger, resentment and bitterness and no “water” (read ability to forgive) to deal with it.  Unfortunately, it is a whole lot easier for us to recognize when we run out of water, than it is to recognize when we run out of forgiveness.

The ramifications of unforgiveness are profound.  No matter what happens to us, the Lord expects us, and requires us, to forgive one another – just as we have been forgiven.  Proverbs 4:23 speaks to this in a particularly fitting way given our illustration today: “And guard your heart for it is the well-spring of life.”

Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places
smooth.  These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

This promise to Israel is a promise from the Lord for us as well.  You might have to read
the verse several times to have it sink in. The Lord quickened this verse to me several years ago while I was in Brazil visiting my son John and his family.  It was a time when I was really struggling with direction and God’s plan for me.  I was having difficulty understanding what was going on in my life in terms of job/ministry/direction.

The “details” of my daily life were giving me problems as I grappled with them.  At the same time, I did understand that the Lord wanted me to walk in faith.  My struggle was between focusing on the Lord and dealing with my circumstances that I didn’t understand – back and forth.

Into this mix one morning, the Lord gave me this verse as a token of kindness.  It says that there are times in our walk with the Lord when He leads us in ways we have not known, along unfamiliar paths.  Our unfamiliarity translates into darkness, like finding our way on an unfamiliar hiking trail in the dark through treacherous terrain.  We usually aren’t
aware that He is leading us because we simply find ourselves in difficult unfamiliar
circumstances and have to deal with them.

But here is where the faith element comes in.  He will turn the darkness into light – our anxiety and distress over where we find ourselves is replaced by the peaceful confidence that comes from Him.  Think of being on that hiking trail in the dark in treacherous terrain and having a trusted guide meet you.  We still have to traverse the trail but we’re not alone.  The presence of this guide and our justified confidence in Him results in the rough places becoming smooth.

Our problem is that we are so inclined to focus on our troubling circumstances.  The Lord wants us to understand that life is filled with these situations – but He is always with us.  That is reality, not just a theological promise.  We might not know where we’re going or the details of how things will work out, but we have our God with us.  He provides the light in our darkness.  He guides and strengthens us in the journey.  He delivers us from fear
and uncertainty.    That is something to rejoice in no matter what else is going on!