Time to dig some ditches

Growing up in South Texas I was familiar with the idea of irrigation, but never so much as the time I actually helped irrigate an orchard. My parents had purchased half an acre of an orchard that had been subdivided. Well, not ready to build a house on the land, they decided to irrigate the orange trees. The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas was built on irrigation and there are canals and irrigation pipes just about everywhere. We had to pay a fee to the city or county based on how much water we needed, then the water was turned on at the pipe nearest our land. It was up to us to get the water from that pipe to the land and of course we did this by means of ditches. It was not enough to just dig a ditch from the pipe to the edge of our little grove of trees, we had to dig ditches to control how the water was spread throughout the trees, otherwise it would have just run off and been wasted. I remember that day, because what was for the rest of my family a lot of hard work, was a lot of fun for a 12 year old boy and his friends. But, I learned something about irrigation that day. If you arent prepared for the water, you will not reap any benefits from it. In 2 Kings 3, the armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom are preparing to attack Moab and are moving through the wilderness of Edom. Vs 9 tells us that they went on a 7 day journey with no water. Realizing they were in trouble the kings asked if there was prophet in the company. Elisha, who at the time was still unknown, stepped up. After a rebuke of Ahab's son, he tells them to dig ditches because even without rain or wind the valley is going to be filled with water. I believe the Lord desires to fill our hearts and lives, but we need to dig some ditches to be prepared to handle it. There are several ditches we need to dig, but I just want to point out one: self-discipline. Without self-discipline any blessing that the Lord gives us is just going to be wasted. Many of us wonder why we don't see more of the Lord's blessings in our life, but we have no discipline. If we will work (digging a ditch is very hard work) and dicsipline ourselves, I believe the Lord will fill our lives to overflowing.

The Lord leads us

So often, as Christians we pray, "Lord, lead me; Lord, guide me." Well, we need to realize that He is already leading and guiding us. Our praying like that is equivalent to the children of Israel ignoring the cloud and praying for the Lord to show them which way to go. "Lord, lead us where you want us to go, and while you're at it, could you send some shade?" We immediately see how foolish that would be, yet it's just as foolish for us to pray for His guidance. He is guiding us and showing us His way. So much so, that our VERY steps are arranged by Him. What we need to pray for is that our spiritual eyes might be opened and that we might see Him and follow Him where He is already leading. We are like Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 6. Rather than pray for the Lord's deliverance, Elisha just prayed that His sevant's eyes would be opened. Just like the deliverance was already provided, our guidance is already provided. So let's stop praying for the Lord to guide us, and rather thank Him for the guidance He has aleady provided and then pray that He will open our eyes to see it.

Rejected on earth, accepted in Heaven

Most, if not all of us know the sting of rejection. It starts early for some. Even on the playground maybe you were the last kid to be picked. Or worse yet, you were the one, when left by yourself, the captain who's turn it was to pick said, "I dont' want him, you can have him." And it continues. Husbands and wives reject each other. Maybe saddest of all is when children are rejected by their parents. It was this kind of rejection that David knew about. In I Samuel 16 we are told of Samuel's visit to Jesse's house to anoint the next king. Samuel had of course let Jesse know he was coming and why. So where was David? David was out watching sheep because his own father had already rejected him as even being a candidate for the king. Remember that Samuel had brought all the fixin's for a feast. It was his plan, after anointing the new king to have a feast in his honor. Notice the last part of verse 11 of this chapter, "we will not sit down until he come hither." No matter how many times we have been rejected on this earth, Jesus is preparing a feast in Heaven and He is saying, "we aren't sitting down, until they are all here. We aren't even starting this until my church has come home." The sting of rejection on earth isn't so bad when you realize that Jesus has accepted you.